THOMAS  mmn  BURRiLL,  mom 


*t 


V 


^ 


f 


THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  ILLINOIS 

LIBRARY 


<^p.^ 


f 


0 


Return  this  book  on  or  before  the 
Latest  Date   stamped   below. 


University  of  Illinois  Library 


JIB  -8  ^"^ 

APR  -  6  t;i67 


MS  0  8  1 


MARl 

m 

MAR  2 
HAR 


■7  io,()0 

2  8  WSl 
5  1994 
0  3  1994 


L16I  — H41 


Digitized  by  tine  Internet  Arciiive 

in  2009  witii  funding  from 

CARLI:  Consortium  of  Academic  and  Researcii  Libraries  in  Illinois 


http://www.archive.org/details/installationofed1906univ 


l11 

3 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 


INSTALLATION 


OF 


Edmund  Janes  James,  Ph.D.,  LL.D. 


AS  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 


PART  L 


PROCEEDINGS  OF 

THE   NATIONAL   CONFERENCE  OF  COLLEGE 

AND  UNIVERSITY  TRUSTEES 

October  17-19,  i9o5 


Edited  by  E.  J.  Townsend,  Ph.  D. 


Urbana,  1906 


Copyright  1906 
By  The  University  of  Illinois 


Press  of  The 

Illinois  Printing  Company 

Danville,  Illinois 


^.3 


PREFATORY  NOTE 

During  the  week  in  which  Doctor  Edmund  J.  James  was  formally 
installed  as  President  of  the  University  of  Illinois,  there  was  held  at 
the  University  in  connection  with  the  ceremonies  of  installation  a 
national  conference  of  trustees  of  American  colleges  and  universities. 
The  following  announcement  of  the  conference  was  sent  to  the  trustees 
of  all  the  more  prominent  educational  institutions  of  collegiate  rank 
in  the  country : 

Anxouncement  of  the  National  Conference  of  the  Trustees  of 
American  Colleges  and  Universities  to  be  held  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Illinois,  Urbana,  Illinois,  beginning  Tuesday, 
October  17th,  1905,  2  p.m. 

A  national  conference  of  trustees  of  American  colleges  and  uni- 
versities will  be  held  at  the  University  of  Illinois,  Urbana,  Illinois, 
beginning  Tuesday,  October  17,  1905.  All  trustees  of  such  institu- 
tions and  all  persons  who  have  served  as  trustees  are  cordially  invited 
to  attend. 

The  sessions  will  be  held  during  the  week  in  which  Dr.  Edmund  J. 
James  will  be  formally  inaugurated  as  president  of  the  University  of 
Illinois.  The  member  of  the  conference  will  be  invited  to  attend  the 
exercises  connected  with  the  inauguration.  This  will  give  the  mem- 
bers of  the  conference  an  opportunity  to  meet  representative  men, 
presidents  and  professors,  from  many  different  institutions,  who  will 
be  in  attendance  as  delegates,  and  also  to  inspect  the  work  of  one  of 
the  larger  of  the  state  universities. 

It  is  well  known  that  the  method  of  governing  higher  institutions 
of  learning  by  boards  of  trustees,  that  is,  bodies  of  non-experts, — 
laymen,  so  to  speak,  in  the  field  of  education, — is  peculiarly  American. 

In  England  the  old  universities  are  self-governing  bodies,  con- 
trolled largely  by  the  faculties;  in  France  and  Germany  they  are 
departments  of  the  governments,  and,  so  far  as  they  are  not  directly 
under  the  control  of  the  government,  they  are  autonomous,  that  is, 
ruled  by  the  faculties.  In  the  United  States  alone  we  have  felt  it 
necessary  to  create  a  third  organ,  an  independent,  often  self-renewing 
body  of  non-experts,  in  whose  hands  the  entire  legal  control  has 
usually  been  placed. 

•  Many  authorities  regard  this  as  a  most  satisfactory  method ;  others 
find  in  it  some  of  the  most  serious  weaknesses  of  our  American  system 
of  higher  education ;  all  believe  that  the  problems  connected  with  such 
a  plan  of  control  are  far  from  being  worked  out  satisfactorily. 

This  conference  has  been  called  for  the  purpose  of  discussing  some 

(3) 
If-'  r\  rr'  ^  C">**^ 


of  the  most  important  questions  of  college  and  university  administra- 
tion, involving  the  relations  of  trustees,  presidents  and  faculties. 
Among  the  questions  which  will  be  discussed  are  the  following: 

1.  What  should  be  the  real  administrative  body  of  a  college  or 
university,  the  faculty  or  the  trustees? 

Should  the  trustees  limit  their  functions  to  selecting  a  faculty 
and  then  vest  in  the  latter  the  actual  administration,  or  should  the 
board  itself  undertake  to  administrate  the  institution,  either  as  a 
body  or  through  its  committees? 

2.  Should  the  president  of  an  institution  be  the  sole  advisory 
authority  to  the  board  of  trustees,  or  should  the  other  administrative 
officers,  or  the  various  faculties,  be  consulted? 

3.  Should  the  faculty  be  authorized  to  nominate  men  to  the 
board  for  vacancies,  or  should  that  be  done  by  the  president  or  by 
committees  or  by  members  of  the  board? 

4.  How  should  trustees  be  selected?  (a)  By  cooptation?  (6)  By 
the  Alumni?     (c)  By  outside  authority? 

1.  In  case  of  private  institutions,  by  the  church  or  other 

body  ? 

2.  In  case  of  state  institutions, 

(a)  Appointed  by  the  governor? 
(6)  Elected  by  the  people? 

(c)   or  ex  officio,  e.  g.,   governor,    superintendent  of 
public  instruction,  etc.? 

5.  Should  the  trustees  assume  entire  control  of  the  financial 
administration,  or  should  they  allow  the  faculties  to  have  a  repre- 
sentation also,  by  allowing  them  to  submit  a  budget  either  by  depart- 
ments or  as  a  whole? 

6.  Should  the  trustees,  if  they  reserve  the  financial  authority, 
undertake  to  determine  the  budget  in  all  its  details,  or  should  they 
simply  distribute  by  departments  and  leave  it  to  the  individual 
departments  to  make  the  detailed  distribution. 

7.  Should  the  trustees  of  all  institutions,  public  and  private 
alike,  be  required  by  law  to  file  full  financial  statements  with  some 
public  authority  and  publish  the  same  ? 

8.  Should  the  alumni  have  some  formally  recognized  place  in  the 
scheme  of  government  of  the  institution?     If  so,  what? 

9.  Should  the  student  body  have  formal  recognition  in  the  scheme 
of  government  by  being  privileged  to  appoint  representatives  to  any 
disciplinary  or  administrative  body? 

10.  Is  it  possible  to  devise  uniform  methods  of  bookkeeping  and 
statistics,  so  as  to  make  comparisons  more  valuable? 

It  will  be  seen  that  these  are  all  vital  questions,  indicating  diffi- 
culties which  every  board  of  trustees  has  to  meet.  It  is  believed 
that  every  university  or  college  trustee  will  derive  great  aid  in  the 

(4) 


5 

performance  of  his  duties  by  attending  this  conference  and  exchang- 
ing veiws  on  these  important  topics. 

Urbana,  in  which  the  University  of  IHinois  is  located,  forms  with 
its  adjoining  city,  Champaign,  a  single  community  of  about  twenty 
thousand  inhabitants.  It  is  situated  128  miles  due  south  of  Chicago, 
at  the  junction  of  three  great  railway  systems,  the  Illinois  Central, 
the  Chicago,  Cincinnati,  Cleveland  and  St.  Louis  (Big  Four),  and  the 
Wabash  railways,  and  is  thus  easy  of  access  from  every  direction. 

Persons  desiring  to  attend  this  conference  should  notify  the  under- 
signed as  soon  as  possible.  Suggestions  as  to  other  desirable  topics 
for  discussion  will  be  thankfully  received.     Address, 

David  Kinley, 
Dean  of  the  College  of  Literature  and  Arts,   University  of  Illinois, 

Urbana,  Illinois. 


In  response  to  the  call  about  100  trustees  and  others  in  adminis- 
trative positions  assembled  for  the  conference.  This  pamphlet  con- 
tains a  full  account  of  the  proceedings. 


(5) 


PROGRAM 
First  Session:     3:30  p.m.,  Tuesday,  October  17 
Address  of  Welcome:     Mr.  S.  A.  BuUard,  President  of  Board  of  Trustees,  Uni- 
versity of  Illinois. 
Address:     The  University  Presidency:     Hon.  A.   S.   Draper,  Commissioner  of 

Education,  State  of  New  York. 
Address:     Closer  Relations  between  the  Trustees  and  Faculty:     Mr.  James  P. 

Munroe,  Trustee  of  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology. 
Discussion:     Mrs.  Norman  Frederick  Thompson,  Trustee  of  Wellesley  College. 

Second  Session:     9:00  a.m.,  Thursday,  October  19 
Address:     The  Academic  Career:   Professor  Joseph  Jastrow,   President  of  the 

American  Psychological  Association. 
Discussion: — 

President  J.  W.  Mauck,  Hillsdale  College. 

President  Jam.es  H.  Baker,  University  of  Colorado. 

Professor  Richard  Jones,  Trustee  of  Iowa  College. 

President  Brown  Ayers,  University  of  Tennessee. 

Mr.  S.  A.  Bullard,  President  Board  of  Trustees,  University  of  Illinois. 

Mr.  James  P.  Munroe,  Trustee  of  Mass.  Inst,  of  Technology. 

Mrs.  Carrie  T.  Alexander,  Trustee  of  University  of  Illinois. 

Mrs.  Norman  Frederick  Thompson,  Trustee  of  Wellesley  College. 

Professor  Joseph  Jastrow. 
Address:     Questions    Regarding    College    Administration:     Dean    Charles    E. 

Bessey,  Trustee  of  Doane  College,  (Presented  by  Professor  S.  A.  Forbes, 

University  of  Illinois). 
Discussion:     Mr.  Henry  H.  Hilton,  Trustee  of  Dartmouth  College. 

Third  Session:     3:00  p.m.,  Thursday,  October  19 
Address:     State    Supervision   of   Endowment   Funds:     Mr.    J.    P.    Lippincott, 

Trustee  of  Illinois  College. 
Address:     University  Investments  and  Accounting:     Mr.   Wallace    Heckman, 

Counsel  and  Business  Manager  of  University  of  Chicago. 
Address:     Need   of   Business   Methods   in   Our   Universities-     Mr.    William    S. 

Dyche,  Business  Manager  of  Northwestern  University. 
Discussion: — 

Mr.  Ernest  Reckitt,  C.  P.  A.,  Chicago. 

Mr.  J.  E.  Davidson,  Trustee  of  Hillsdale  College. 

Mr.  A.  C.  True,  United  States  Department  of  Agriculture. 

Fourth  Session:     8:00  p.m.,  Thursday,  October  19 

Address:  The  Selection  of  Trustees:  Hon.  Paul  Jones,  Ex-trustee  of  Ohio 
State  University. 

Discussion:      Principal  James  E.  Armstrong,  Ex-trustee  of  University  of  Illinois. 

Address:  vSecondary  Administrative  Positions  in  University  Organizations: 
Eugene  Davenport,  Director  of  the  Agricultural  Experiment  Station,  Uni- 
versity of  Illinois. 

Discussion:     Dean  David  Kinley,  University  of  Illinois. 

Review  of  the  Work  of  the  Conference:  Mr.  S.  A.  Bullard,  President  of  the 
Board  of  Trustees,  University  of  Illinois. 

(6) 


KIRST    SESSION 

ADDRESS  OF  WELCOME 

By  Hox.  S.  A.  Bullard,  M.  Arch. 
President  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  University  of  Illinois 

It  affords  me  great  pleastire  as  President  of  the  Board  of  Trustees 
of  the  University  of  IlHnois,  to  welcome  you  as  delegates  and  friends 
to  this  conference,  to  the  University  of  Illinois,  and  to  all  the  enter- 
tainments that  will  be  given  during  the  week ;  and  we  trust  your  stay 
here  may  be  not  only  a  benefit  to  you,  but  to  all  those  people  whom 
you  represent  in  the  different  colleges  throughout  the  country. 

Such  an  assemblv  as  this  is  unique  in  the  history  of  the  colleges  of 
our  country.  The  gathering  together  of  people  representing  boards 
of  trustees  of  the  several  colleges  seems  to  me  must  result  in  great 
advantage.  We  shall  be  able  to  compare  notes  and  to  exchange 
ideas  concerning  the  conduct  of  institutions  of  learning.  The  ad- 
vantages to  be  derived  from  such  an  interchange  of  views,  I  am  sure, 
will  more  than  repay  the  cost. 

This  is  a  conference.  Therefore,  there  will  be  no  standing  com- 
mittees, so  that  anv  expression  of  opinion  of  this  body  will  have  to 
come  through  resolutions  introduced  bv  individual  members  of  the 
conference.  In  seeking  the  views  of  this  conference,  upon  anv  topic, 
it  seems  to  me  it  would  be  very  appropriate  that  resolutions  express- 
ing some  definite  idea  should  be  presented,  to  the  end  that  we  may 
act  upon  them,  and  the  work  of  the  conference  may  be  preserved. 

The  university  trustee  is  peculiar  to  American  institutions.  He 
is  selected  in  different  ways  in  different  institutions,  and  even  in  the 
same  institution  he  is  not  alwavs  selected  in  the  same  manner.  In 
our  State  the  control  of  the  University  is  placed  in  the  hands  of  nine 
trustees,  elected  by  the  people  as  such,  upon  the  same  ticket  as  other 
officers  of  the  State,  together  with  the  governor  and  the  superintend- 
ent of  public  instruction,  and  another,  who  is  elected  to  represent  the 
agricultural  people  of  the  State  as  President  of  the  State  Agricultural 
Society.  These  twelve  people  constitute  our  board.  Other  institu- 
tions may  have  other  and  different  wavs  of  choosing  their  controlling 
boards, — such  as  appointment  bv  some  official,  or  body  of  individuals, 
election  by  alumni,  or  faculty,  or  by  choice  of  the  remaining  members 
of  the  trustees  themselves.  The  trust  imposed  upon  the  governing 
boards  may  vary  in  the  different  institutions.  They  do  not  all  have 
the  same  duties  and  responsibilities,  and  in  all  these  we  may  not  be 

(7) 


able  to  make  actual  comparisons  and  draw  helpful  conclusions:  but 
we  may  be  given  to  see  how  the  several  boards  do  the  work  devolving 
upon  them,  and  how  they  meet  some  of  the  perplexing  questions  which 
are  constantly  arising  and  so  be  enabled,  ourselves,  to  see  more  clearly 
the  pathway  of  duty  as  it  dimly  appears  before  us. 

No  one  serving  as  a  trustee,  or  at  least  a  very  few,  receives  a  salary 
for  such  service.  Most  of  us  have  business  interests  in  addition  to 
the  work  which  we  are  doing  as  trustees.  Therefore  the  work  of  the 
trustee  is  a  gratuity.  The  man  of  business  affairs  brings  with  him  to 
his  office  of  trustee,  his  usual  systematic  business  methods,  and  by  his 
advice  and  counsel  aids  largely  in  conserving  the  financial  interests  of 
his  institution.  His  relations  with  the  business  world  give  him  also 
decided  views  of  the  way  in  which  the  college  or  university  may  best 
serve  the  world  of  business  activity  about  him,  and  thus  in  one  more 
way  repay  to  society  the  money  expended  in  educational  work. 

The  duties  of  trustees  of  our  colleges  are  responsible  duites,  and, 
if  such  a  gathering  as  this  will  inspire  us  to  perform  those  duties  more 
conscientiously,  and  by  having  the  benefit  of  the  experiences  and  sug- 
gestions of  others  we  may  have  more  wisdom  with  which  to  perform 
them,  I  shall  feel  that  this  conference  has  been  a  success. 


THE  UNIVERSITY  PRESIDENCY 

By  Hon.  Andrew  S.  Draper,  LL.D. 

Commissioner  of  Education,  State  of -New  York 

[By  permission  of  The  Atlantic  Monthly] 

There  are  at  least  four  features  which  distinguish  university  work 
in  America  and  exercise  a  decisive  influence  upon  the  form  of  govern- 
ment in  American  universities. 

The  first  grows  out  of  the  universal  democracy  of  the  country  and 
the  common  ambitions  of  the  people.  Every  one  who  shares  in  the 
spirit  of  the  country  wants  to  get  to  the  top,  and  continually  hears  that 
he  may,  if  he  will  seize  his  opportunities.  He  has  no  thought  of  fol- 
lowing his  father's  work,  unless,  as  is  quite  improbable,  it  is  in  line 
with  his  special  ambitions.  The  need  of  the  higher  training  for  all 
kinds  of  work  involving  mental  aptitude  is  now  everywhere  recognized. 
The  secondary  schools  have  become  a  part  of  the  common  school  sys- 
tem, and  every  teacher  in  high  school  or  academy  leads  his  students 
very  near  to  the  point  of  thinking  that  they  will  lose  their  chance  in 
life,  and  even  be  discredited,  if  they  do  not  advance  to  college  or  uni- 
versity. The  university  life  is  now  specially  attractive  to  the  young, 
and  they  want  a  share  in  the  pleasure  and  enthusiasm  of  it.  This 
brings  to  the  universities  great  numbers  who  in  other  days  never  went 
to  college,  who  in  other  lands  would  not  go  now.  Many  of  these  must 
be  both  led  and  pushed. 

(8) 


Then,  the  common  thought  about  Hberal  education  has  changed* 
It  is  no  longer  only  classical,  culturing,  disciplinary:  it  must  prepare 
students  not  only  for  the  multiplying  professions,  but  for  the  multi- 
plying industries.  It  trains  one  for  icork,  but  work  which  may  dis- 
tinguish him.  Cultivated  aimlessness  is  no  longer  the  accepted  ideal 
of  American  scholarship.  Culture  which  is  not  the  product  of  work 
either  mental  or  manual,  with  some  definite  point  to  it,  is  held  to  be 
at  second-hand,  only  skin-deep,  and  not  to  be  taken  seriously.  It 
must  not  be  said  that  mere  strength  and  steadiness  in  holding  down  a 
job  are  the  marks  of  an  educated  man.  There  must  be  native  resource- 
fulness and  versatility,  sound  training  and  serious  studv,  discrimination 
in  means  and  methods,  and  rational  applications  to  real  things  in 
life,  in  ways  that  bring  results  of  some  distinct  worth  to  the  world. 
It  makes  little  difference  ivhat  one  does,  but  he  must  do  something. 
The  all-important  fact  is  not  that  real  learning  may  now  be  found  in 
all  businesses, — though  that  is  important, — but  that  one  must  do 
something  of  recognized  value,  to  be  held  a  scholar.  It  may  be  not 
only  in  letters,  or  science,  or  law,  or  medicine,  or  theology,  but  it  may 
be  also  in  administration,  in  planning  and  constructing,  in  mechanics, 
in  agriculture,  in  banking,  in  public  service,  in  anything  else  worth 
while. 

If  one's  powers  of  observation,  of  investigation,  of  expression,  and 
of  accomplishment,  lead  him  to  do  something  of  real  concern,  to  do  it 
completely  and  quite  as  well  as,  or  better  than,  others  can  do  it,  and 
impel  him  to  open  up  new  vistas  and  methods  of  doing  other  things  of 
larger  moment,  he  has  a  better  right  to  be  held  an  educated 
man  than  he  who  incubates  the  unpotential  and  brings  forth  nothing. 
And  not  only  have  educational  values  changed,  but  educational 
instrumentalities  have  changed.  Books  and  academic  discussions 
have  their  part,  but  in  many  directions  it  is  now  a  minor  part.  Things 
are  taught  and  learned,  new  insight  and  the  power  to  do  are  gained, 
through  actual  doing.  And  not  only  is  the  training  through  doing 
rather  than  through  reading  and  talking,  but  the  opportunity  of  se- 
lection extends  to  every  subject  and  every  study.  It  requires  build- 
ings and  equipment  and  teachers  never  before  within  the  means  of  an 
institution.  It  has  revolutionized  the  scope,  the  possessions,  the  plans 
and  methods,  the  offerings,  and  the  outlook  of  the  universities.  While 
this  is  coming  to  be  true  in  a  measure  in  other  countries,  the  uncon- 
ventional freedom,  the  industrial  aggressiveness,  the  unparalleled 
volume  of  money  going  into  university  operations  in  this  country  have 
given  us  the  leadership  of  a  New- World  movement  in  higher  education. 

Again,  university  revenues  come  from  men  who  have  done  things 
and  want  other  things  done.  It  is  exclusively  so  in  private  institu- 
tions, and  the  people  and  representatives  who  vote  appropriations  to 
the  state  universities  have  no  other  thought.     While  few  are  so  short- 

(9) 


10 

sighted  as  to  tre  opposed  to  a  balanced  and  harmonious  university 
evolution,  still,  money  is  provided  more  freely  for  the  kind  of  instruc- 
tion in  which  the  providers  are  most  interested.  This,  of  course, 
gives  shape  and  trend  to  the  development.  But  it  does  more:  it 
creates  the  need  of  teachers  not  heretofore  adequately  prepared  or 
not  prepared  in  adequate  numbers.  The  vastness,  the  newness,  and  the 
unpreparedness  of  it  all  create  the  need  of  general  oversight  and  close 
administration.  Even  more,  when  teachers  are  not  supported  bv 
student  fees,  but  are  paid  from  the  university  treasurv  without  ref- 
erence to  the  number  of  students  they  teach,  or  verv  sharp  discrimi- 
nation about  the  quality  of  work  they  do,  there  is  no  automatic  way 
of  getting  rid  of  teachers  who  do  not  teach  or  of  investigators  who  do 
not  produce.  Some  competent  and  protected  authority  must  ac- 
complish this  and  continually  reinforce  the  teaching  staff  with  virile 
men.  The  competition  between  institutions  rather  than  between 
men,  and  the  natural  reluctance  at  deposing  a  teacher,  are  producing 
pathetic  situations  at  different  points  in  many  American  universities, 
and  are  likely  to  become  the  occasion  of  more  weakness  in  our  uni- 
versity system  than  has  been  widely  realized. 

Yet  again,  the  sentiment  of  this  country  does  not  agree,  and  doubt- 
less will  never  agree,  that  American  universities  shall  stand  for  mere 
"scholarship"  without  reference  to  character,  or  that  boys  shall  be 
allowed  to  go  to  the  devil  without  hindrance,  for  the  lack  of  university 
leadership,  or  to  accommodate  administrative  cowa-rdice  or  convenience. 
Students  will  have  to  be  controlled  and  guided  in  this  country,  and 
American  universities  will  have  to  have  leaders  who  are  leaders  of 
morals  as  well  as  of  learning,  and  who  will  stir  the  common  sense,  and 
use  the  common  sentiment,  through  the  authoritative  word  spoken  in 
the  crowd. 

One  may  lament  that  our  universities  are  not  copied  upon  German 
or  English  models ;  that  overwhelming  numbers  of  students  are  going 
to  them ;  that  not  all  who  go  are  serious  students ;  that  we  are  moving 
in  new  educational  directions ;  that  our  professors  are  not  made  to  live 
on  fees ;  and  that  there  is  neither  a  care  for  superficial  culture  without 
much  regard  for  true  scholarship,  nor  a  vaunting  of  mere  scholarship 
without  reference  to  moral  character.  The  labor  is  lost.  These 
things  are  so:  they  are  right  because  thev  are  so;  because  they  are  the 
outgrowth  of  the  compounding  of  a  great  new  nation  in  the  world,  and 
because  they  are  the  logical  outworkings  of  a  marvelous  advance  in 
the  thinking  of  men  who  are  free  to  do  some  thinking  for  themselves. 

It  is  hardly  worth  while  to  be  troubled  because  we  cannot  see  the 
road  beyond  the  turns  that  are  ahead.  There  is  a  road  beyond  the 
turns, — or  one  will  be  made.  President  Pritchett  of  the  Massachu- 
setts Institute  of  Technology,  in  a  recent  address  at  the  University  of 
Michigan,   published  in  the   September  Atlantic,   discusses,   without 

(10) 


11 

answering,  the  question,  "Shall  the  University  become  a  business 
corporation?"  Dr.  Pritchett  ordinarily  does  things  exactly  and  com- 
pletely. He  can  answer  questions, — particularly  when  he  asks  them 
of  himself.  He  did  not  answer  this  one  because  the  answer  is  so 
obvious.  He  used  his  question  to  express  a  very  common  skepticism. 
Of  course  the  university  cannot  become  a  business  corporation,  with  a 
business  corporation's  ordinary  implications.  Such  a  corporation  is 
without  what  is  being  called  spiritual  aim,  is  without  moral  methods. 
Universities  are  to  unlock  the  truth  and  turn  out  the  best  and  the 
greatest  men  and  women;  business  corporations  are  mainly,  if  not  ex- 
clusivelv  to  make  money.  If  this  is  a  harsh  characterization,  it  can 
not  be  denied  that  it  has  been  earned  by  the  great  business  corpora- 
tions with  which  the  great  universities  must  be  compared  if  they  are 
to  be  compared  with  an  v.  A  university  cannot  become  such  a  cor- 
poration without  ceasing  to  be  a  university.  The  distinguishing  ear- 
marks of  an  American  universitv  are  its  moral  purpose,  its  scientific 
aim,  its  unselfish  public  service,  its  inspirations  to  all  men  in  noble 
things,  and  its  incorruptibility  by  commercialism.  But  that  is  no 
reason  w'hy  sane  and  essential  business  methods  should  not  be  applied 
to  the  management  of  its  business  affairs.  It  is  a  business  concern 
as  well  as  a  moral  and  intellectuaj  instrumentality,  and  if  business 
methods  are  not  applied  to  its  management  it  will  break  down.  If 
they  are  not  to  be  employed,  the  university,  with  its  vast  accumula- 
tions of  materials  and  men,  must  be  a  mistake,  or,  worse  yet,  a  wrong. 
It  is  neither  a  mistake  nor  a  wrong,  or  it  would  not  be  here.  It  is 
neither  an  accident  nor  an  impulse;  it  is  a  growth,  the  deliberate  pro- 
duct of  conditions,  of  means,  and  of  thought.  It  is  a  great  combina- 
tion of  material  resources  and  moral  forces  essential  to  modern  compe- 
titions, the  needed  inspiration  of  all  factors  in  the  population  for  large 
areas  of  territory,  and  its  usefulness  depends  upon  giving  the  manage- 
ment both  moral  sense  and  worldly  knowledge. 

The  responsible  authorities  in  the  management  of  a  university  are 
the  trustees,  the  president,  and  the  faculty.  Legal  enactments  settle 
in  some  measure  the  exact  functions  of  each,  but  common  knowledge 
of  the  kinds  of  government  which  succeed  when  much  property  and 
many  interests  are  involved,  as  well  as  the  imperative  necessities  of 
the  particular  situation,  have  gone  much  further  to  establish  the  gov- 
ermental  procedure  in  the  university.  While  the  immediate  purpose 
is  to  exploit  the  functions  and  powers  of  the  university  president,  some 
reference  necessarily  brief  must  be  made  to  the  prerogatives  and 
duties  of  the  trustees  and  faculty. 

A  vital  principle  in  all  government  involving  many  cares  and 
interests  is  tersely  expressed  in  the  statement  that  bodies  legislate  and 
individuals  execute.  It  goes  without  saying  that  legislation  must  be 
by  a  body  which  is  both  morally  responsible  and  legally  competent, 

(11) 


12 

and  common  observation  proves  to  us  that  it  must  concern  an  actual 
situation,  to  be  of  any  real  worth.  If  it  involves  special  knowledge, 
it  must  be  by  men  who  have  the  knowledge  or  who  will  respect  the 
opinions  of  others  who  have  it. 

Trustees,  as  the  representatives  of  the  founders  or  donors,  or  of 
the  state,  are  practically,  if  not  altogether,  unknown  to  foreign  uni- 
versities. Those  universities  are  managed  directly  bv  the  govern- 
ment, or  by  the  faculties,  or  by  both.  The  introduction  of  trustee 
management  into  American  universities  has  resulted  necessarily  from 
their  more  democratic  character,  from  their  different  manner  of  sup- 
port, from  their  independence  of  government,  and  from  the  difference 
between  the  political  systems  and  popular  purposes  in  the  New  World 
and  the  Old.  With  the  early  development  of  American  universities 
it  was  obvious  enough  that  they  could  not  be  left  to  the  management 
of  political  officers ;  that  they  must  be  managed  without  partisanship 
■  and  governed  by  law  rather  than  supervised  by  legislatures ;  and  as 
they  have  taken  shape, it  has  been  equally  clear  that  the  appointment 
of  teachers  and  the  assignment  of  resources  to  departments  could  not 
be  left  to  the  faculties.  The  special  circumstances  of  the  universities, 
and  the  practically  uniform  plan  of  corporate  management  in  America, 
developed  the  board  of  trustees  in  our  universities,  with  functions  and 
powers  subordinate  to.^nd  consistent  with,  and  exercised  in  a  similar 
manner  with,  those  which  are  held  by  the  sovereign  legislative  author- 
ity over  all  corporations;  Trustees  stand  for  the  legislature  so  far  as 
the  law  permits. 

The  trustees  of  a  university  are  charged  by  law,  either  statutory  or 
judge-made,  or  by  widely  acknowledged  usage,  with  that  general  over- 
sight and  that  legislative  direction  which  will  assure  the  true  execution 
of  a  trust.  They  are  to  secure  revenues  and  control  expenditures. 
They  are  to  prevent  waste  and  assure  results.  They  are  never  to  for- 
get that  they  represent  the  people  who  created  and  who  maintain  the 
university.  They  are  not  to  represent  these  people  as  a  tombstone 
might, — but  as  living  men  may.  The  are  to  do  the  things  their  prin- 
cipals would  assuredly  do  if  in  their  places,  to  enlarge  the  advantage 
to  the  cestui  que  trust.  This  is  a  heavy  burden.  It  must  be  assumed 
that  it  is  given  to  picked  men  who  are  specially  able  to  bear  it;  who 
would  not  give  their  time  to  it  for  mere  money  compensation,  but  are 
happy  in  doing  it  for  the  sake  of  promoting  the  best  and  noblest  things. 
The  trustees  do  not  live  upon  the  campus,  and  they  are  not  as- 
sumed to  be  professional  educationalists.  Their  judgment  is  likely 
to  be  quite  as  good  as  to  the  relations  of  the  work  to  the  public  in- 
terests, and  as  to  what  the  institution  should  do  to  fulfill  its  mission, 
as  that  of  any  expert  would  be.  To  get  done  what  they  want  done, 
they  must  enact  directions  and  appoint  competent  agents.  The  in- 
dividual trustee  has  no  power  of  supervision  or  direction  not  given  to 

(12)' 


13 

him  by  the  recorded  action  of  the  board.  What  they  do  is  to  be  done 
in  session,  after  the  modification  of  individual  opinions  through  joint 
and  formal  discussion.  It  must  be  reduced  to  exact  form  and  stand 
in  a  permanent  record.  Trustees  make  a  mess  of  it  when  they  usurp 
executive  functions,  and  they  sow  dragons'  teeth  when  they  intrigue 
with  a  teacher  or  hunt  a  job  for  a  patriot  who  thinks  he  is  in  need  of  it. 
The  are  bound  to  regard  expert  opinion  and  to  appoint  agents  who 
can  render  a  more  expert  service  than  any  others  who  can  be  procured. 
They  are  to  keep  the  experts  sane,  on  the  earth,  in  touch  with  the 
world,  as  it  were.  They  are  to  sustain  agents  and  help  them  to  suc- 
ceed, and  they  are  to  remove  agents  who  are  not  successful.  From  a 
point  of  view  remote  enough  and  high  enough,  they  are  to  inspect  the 
whole  field.  They  are  bound  to  be  familiar  with  all  that  the  institu- 
tion is  doing.  The  are  to  be  alert  in  keeping  the  whole  organization 
free  from  whatever  may  corrupt,  and  up  to  the  very  top  notch  of 
efficient  public  service.  There  is  too  much  money  involved  to  permit 
of  idle  experimentation,  too  high  interests  at  stake  to  allow  of  vacil- 
lation and  uncertainty.  Under  a  responsibility  that  is  unceasing  and 
unrelenting  they  must  learn  the  truth  and  never  hestitate  to  act  upon 
it.  And  they  must  find  their  abundant  reward,  not  in  any  material 
return  to  themselves,  but  in  the  splendid  fact  that  the  great  aggrega- 
tion of  land  and  structure  and  equipment,  of  great  teachers  and  aspir- 
ing students,  of  sacred  memories  and  precious  hopes  and  potential 
possibilities,  is  doing  the  work  of  God  and  man  in  the  most  perfect  way 
and  in  the  largest  measure  which  their  knowledge  and  experience,  their 
entire  freedom,  and  their  combined  wisdom  and  forecfulness  can  de- 
vise. 

The  business  of  university  faculties  is  teaching.  It  is  not  legisla- 
tion and  it  is  not  administration, — certainly  not  beyond  the  absolute 
necessities.  There  is  just  complaint  because  tlje  necessities  of  ad- 
ministration take  much  time  from  teaching.  It  lessens  the  most 
expert  and  essential  work  which  the  world  is  doing.  It  seldom  en- 
larges opportunity  or  enhances  reputation.  It  is  true  that  teachers 
have  great  fun  legislating,  but  it  is  not  quite  certain  that,  ouside  of 
their  specialties,  they  will  ever  come  to  conclusions,  or  that  if  they  do, 
their  conclusions  will  stand.  The  main  advantage  of  it  is  the  relax- 
ation and  intellectual  dissipation  they  get  out  of  it.  That  is  great. 
And,  in  a  way,  it  may  be  as  necessary  as  it  is  great.  Of  course  teachers 
couKd  not  endure  it  if  they  were  always  to  conduct  themselves  out  of 
the  classroom  as  most  of  them  seem  to  think  they  are  obliged  to  do  in 
it.  Perhaps  others  would  also  have  difficulty  in  enduring  it.  They 
are  given  to  disorderliness  and  argumentation  beyond  any  other  class 
who  stand  so  thoroughly  for  doing  things  in  regular  order.  It  is  not 
strange.  It  is  the  inevitable  reaction, — what  some  of  them  would 
call  the  psychological  antithesis,  I  suppose.     Nor  is  it  to  be  repressed 

(13) 


14 

or  regretted,  for  it  adds  to  the  effectiveness  and  attractiveness  of  the 
most  effective  and  attractive  people  in  the  world.  All  this  is  often 
particularly  true  of  the  past  masters  in  the  art.  No  wonder  that 
Professor  North,  who  taught  Greek  for  sixty  years  at  Hamilton  Col- 
lege,— "Old  Greek,"  as  many  generations  of  students  fondly  called 
him,— wrote  in  his  diary  that  it  would  have  to  be  cut  in  the  granite 
of  his  tombstone  that  he  "died  of  faculty  meetings,"  for  he  was  sure 
that  some  day  he  would  drop  off  before  one  would  come  to  an  end. 

But  the  needs  of  the  profession  ought  to  be  met  by  directing  the 
surplus'  of  physical  and  intellectual  energy  into  really  useful  and  po- 
tential channels,  such  as  sports,  or  battling  over  academic  questions 
with  the  doughty  warriors  of  other  universities. 

Speaking  seriously,  university  policies  are  not  to  be  settled  by  a 
majority  vote.  They  are  to  be  determined  by  expert  opinion.  The 
very  fact  of  extreme  expertness  in  one  direction  is  as  likely  not 
to  imply  lack  of  it  in  other  directions.  Experts  are  no  more  success- 
ful than  other  people  in  settling  things  outside  of  their  zone  of  expert- 
ness. Within  that  they  are  to  have  their  own  way  so  long  as  they 
sustain  themselves  and  the  money  holds  out.  But  the  resources  are 
not  to  be  equally  divided  for  mere  convenience.  University  rivalries 
are  not  to  be  adjusted  by  treaties  between  the  rivals.  More  of  univer- 
sity success  depends  upon  keeping  unimportant  things  from  being  done 
in  a  mistaken  way  than  upon  developing  useful  policies  and  pursuing 
them  in  the  correct  way.  Men  and  work  are  to  be  weighed,  not 
counted.  Department  experts  are  to  determine  department  policies, 
college  experts  college  policies,  and  university  experts  university 
policies. 

What  the  President  of  the  United  States  is  to  the  Federal  Congress, 
the  president  of  the  university  is  to  the  board  of  trustees.  It  has  not 
long  been  so,  becaijse  American  universities  are  recent  creations. 
When  colleges  were  small,  when  the  care  of  their  property  was  no 
task,  when  all  of  a  college  were  of  one  sect,  and  theology  was  the  main 
if  not  the  only  purpose,  when  there  was  but  one  course  of  study  and 
the  instruction  was  bookish  and  catechetical,  administration  was  no 
problem  at  all.  There  was  nothing  to  put  a  strain  on  the  ship.  Even 
though  there  was  no  specific  responsibility  and  no  delegation  of  special 
functions,  with  immediate  accountability,  possessions  did  not  go  to 
waste,  frauds  did  not  creep  in,  and  injustice  and  paralysis  did  not  en- 
sue. It  may  easily  be  so  now  in  the  smaller  colleges;  it  cannot  be  so 
in  the  great  universities.  The  attendance  of  thousands  of  students, 
the  enlargement  of  wealth  and  of  the  number  of  students  who  go  to 
college  without  any  very  definite  aim,  the  admission  of  women,  the 
more  luxurious  and  complex  life,  the  greater  need  of  just  and  forceful 
guidance  of  students,  the  multiplication  of  departments,  the  substi- 
tution of  the  laboratory  for  the  book,  the  new  and  numberless  pro- 

(14) 


15 

cesses,  the  care  of  millions  of  property  and  the  handling  of  very  large 
amounts  of  money,  and  the  continual  and  complete  meeting  of  all  the 
responsibilities  which  this  great  aggregation  of  materials  and  of  moral 
and  industrial  powers  owes  to  the  public,  have  slowly,  but  logically 
and  as  a  matter  of  course,  developed  the  modern  university  presidency. 
It  is  the  centralized  and  responsible  headship  of  a  balanced  adminis- 
trative organization,  with  specialized  functions  running  out  to  all  of 
the  great  innumerable  cares  and  activities  of  the  great  institution. 
It  is  the  essential  office  which  holds  the  right  of  leadership,  wliich  has 
the  responsibility  of  initiative,  which  is  chargeable  with  full  informa- 
tion and  held  to  be  endowed  with  sound  discretion,  which  may  act 
decisively  and  immediately  to  conserve  every  interest  and  promote 
everv  purpose  for  which  the  university  was  established. 

It  may  be  well  to  specify  and  illustrate.  Conditions  are  not  wholly 
ideal  in  a  university.  Men  and  women  not  altogether  ripe  for  trans- 
lation have  to  be  dealt  with.  Real  conditions,  often  unprecedented, 
have  to  be  met.  Not  only  effectiveness  within,  but  decent  and  help- 
ful relations  with  neighbors,  constituents,  and  the  world,  are  to  be 
assured.  Some  authority  must  be  able  to  do  things  at  once,  and  some 
word  must  often  be  spoken  to  or  for  the  university  community.  When 
spoken,  it  must  be  a  free  word,  uttered  out  of  an  ample  right  to  speak. 

An  America  university  may  be  possessed  of  property  worth  from 
three  to  fifty  millions  of  dollars.  This  is  in  lands  and  buildings  and 
appliances  and  securities.  These  things  may  be  legislated  about,  but 
that  alone  is  not  caring  for  them.  To  keep  them  from  spoilation  and 
to  make  the  most  of  them,  there  must  be  expert  care  through  a  com- 
petent department,  but  in  harmonious  relations  with  an  ever-present 
power  which  has  the  right  and  responsibility  of  declaring  and  doing 
things. 

The  very  life  of  the  institution  depends  upon  eliminating  weak  and 
unproductive  tachers  and  reinforcing  the  teaching  body  with  the  very 
best  in  the  world.  Unless  there  is  a  scientific  aggressiveness  in  the 
search  of  new^  knowledge,  some  very  serious  claims  must  be  abandoned 
and  some  attitudes  completely  changed.  No  board  ever  got  rid  of  a 
teacher  or  an  investigator — no  matter  how  weak  or  absurd — except 
for  immorality  known  to  the  board  and  likely  to  become  known  to  the 
public.  The  reason  why  a  board  cannot  deal  with  such  a  matter  is 
the  lack  of  individual  confidence  about  what  to  do,  and  of  individual 
responsibility  for  doing  either  something  or  nothing.  But,  with  three 
or  four  hundred  in  the  faculty,  the  need  of  attention  to  is  this  vital 
matter  always  present  and  urgent.  No  board  knows  where  new  men 
of  first  quality  are  to  be  found ;  no  board  can  conduct  the  negotiations 
for  them  or  fit  them  into  an  harmonious  and  effective  whole.  The 
man  who  is  fitted  for  this  great  burden  and  who  puts  his  conscience 
up  against  his  responsibility  can  hardly  be  expected  to  tolerate  the 

(15) 


16 

opposition  of  an  unsubstantial  sentiment  which  would  protect  a 
teacher  at  all  hazards,  or  the  more  subtle  combination  of  selfish  in- 
fluences which  puts  personal  over  and  above  public  interests  when  the 
upbuilding  of  a  university  is  the  task  in  hand. 

Not  only  must  the  teaching  staff  be  developed, — the  work  must  be 
organized.  It  must  develop  a  following,  connect  with  the  circum- 
stances and  purposes  of  a  constituency,  and  lead  as  well  as  it  can  up 
to  the  peaks  of  knowledge.  It  is  not  necessary  that  all  universities 
cover  the  same  lines  of  work  or  have  the  same  standards.  It  is  not 
imperative  that  all  have  the  same  courses  or  courses  of  the  same 
length.  It  is  necessary  that  all  serve  and  uplift  their  people.  But 
how?  A  master  of  literature  will  say  through  classical  training  and 
literary  style;  a  scientist  will  say  through  laboratories;  a  political 
economist  will  say  through  history  and  figures  and  logic;  an  engineer 
will  say  through  roads  and  bridges  and  knowledge  of  materials,  and 
the  generation  and  transmission  of  power*  and  skill  at  construction ; 
and  a  professional  man  will  say  through  building  up  professional 
schools,  providing  no  mistake  be  made  about  the  particular  kind  of 
school.  Some  one  of  wide  experience,  having  a  scholar's  training  and 
sympathies,  possessed  of  a  judicial  temperament  and  of  decision  as 
well,  must  have  the  responsibility  and  the  initiative  of  distributing 
resources  justly  as  between  the  multifarious  interests,  and  binding 
them  all  into  an  harmonious  and  effective  whole. 

Difficult  as  that  is,  it  is  not  the  heaviest  burden  of  university 
leadership.  Ideals  must  be  upheld  and  made  attractive:  they  must 
be  sane  ideals  which  appeal  to  real  men, — and  not  only  to  old  men, 
but  to  young  men.  There  must  be  no  mistaking  of  dyspepsia  for 
principle,  no  assumption  that  character  grows  only  when  powers  fail; 
but  a  rational  philosophy  of  life  by  which  men  may  live  as  well  as  die. 

Nor  is  this  all.  There  must  be  forehandedness.  Some  one  must 
be  charged  with  the  responsibility  of  peering  into  the  future  and  lead- 
ing forward.  New  and  yet  more  difficult  roads  must  be  broken  out. 
Some  one  in  position  to  do  it  must  be  active  in  initiating  things.  He 
must  see  what  will  go, — and,  quite  as  clearly,  what  will  not  go. 
Subtle  but  fallacious  logic — and  a  vast  deal  of  it — must  be  resisted, 
greed  combated,  conceits  punctured,  resources  augmented,  influences 
enlarged,  forces  marshaled  for  practical  undertakings,  and  the  whole 
enterprise  made  to  give  a  steadily  increasing  service  to  the  industrial, 
professional,  political,  and  moral  interests  of  a  whole  people. 

Then  there  is  the  management  and  guidance  of  students.  One 
may  as  well  complain  because  this  country  is  a  democracy  as  repine 
because  the  sons  and  daughters  of  the  masses  want  to  go  to  college. 
There  is  no  ground  for  regret  in  the  fact  that  our  universities  are  not 
just  like  some  universities  over  the  seas.  We  have  much  to  learn  from 
them  and  we  are  likely  to  learn  much.     We  have  quite  as  much  to 

(16) 


17 

avoid.  It  seems  too  much  to  expect  to  work  un-American  ideas,  and 
perhaps  loose  habits,  out  of  American  students  who  study  in  Europe, 
when  they  come  home.  Our  universities  are  different  from  the  uni- 
versities in  other  countries,  because  of  our  circumstances  and  poHtical 
history,  because  of  our  spirit  and  outlook.  That  is  reason  enough 
why  they  should  be  different. 

It  is  useless  to  question  whether  all  who  come  to  the  higher  edu- 
cational institutions  are  wise  in  coming.  They  are  coming.  The 
work  will  have  to  be  broad  enough  and  adaptable  enough  to  meet 
their  needs.  Nor  is  it  worth  while  to  bewail  the  fact  that  not  all  who 
come  are  serious  students.  Their  purposes  are  good  enough  and 
serious  enough  according  to  their  lights.  Their  preparation  is  what 
has  been  exacted  by  the  university  and  provided  by  the  high  school. 
Some  of  them  have  to  be  pulled  up  and  pushed  along,  but  the  process 
often  brings  out  most  unexpected  results.  Students  are  not  all  angels, 
but  every  student  is  worth  being  helped  by  an  angel  up  to  an  angel's 
place.  The  task  is  upon  the  people  who  undertake  to  manage  uni- 
versities. 

Students  have  to  be  directed  in  companies,  but  dealt  with  individ- 
ually. They  may  be  directed  by  a  rule ;  when  they  break  the  rule  they 
must  be  dealt  with  by  a  man.  It  must  be  a  man  who  can  stand  pat 
for  all  that  ought  to  inhere  in  a  university ;  but  such  a  man  will  get  on 
best  if,  in  addition  to  being  able  to  stand  pat,  he  is  able  to  like  boys; 
he  is  likely  to  get  on  better  still  if  he  was  once  a  rather  lively  boy  him- 
self;  or,  at  least,  if  he  is  a  kind  of  man  for  whom  a  boy  with  some 
ginger  in  him  can  find  it  in  his  heart  to  have,  not  only  considerable 
respect,  but  some  regard  and  admiration. 

This  is  not  saying  that  college  students  are  to  be  treated  like  chil- 
dren. It  is  not  implied  that  they  are  to  be  excused  for  being  ruffians. 
Quite  the  contrary  is  true.  They  are  to  be  held  exactly  responsible  to  law 
and  rule  and  all  well-known  standards  of  decent  living.  There  must 
be  less  viciousness  in  the  life  of  American  universities,  or  they  must 
and  ought  to  suffer  seriously  for  it.  It  is  to  be  resented  and  punished 
far  more  forcefully  than  it  has  been.  Students  who  get  into  this  kind 
of  a  thing  and  persist  in  staying  in  are  to  be  punished,  even  to  the 
point  of  being  thrust  out — and  even  though  it  changes  the  course  of  their 
lives  and  breaks  the  hearts  of  fathers  and  mothers.  The  good  of  all 
is  the  overwhelming  consideration.  A  university  is  to  be  a  university, 
and  not  something  else.  Of  all  institutions,  it  is  to  stand  for  character 
and  ideals.  The  universities  are  not  to  be  closed  and  all  youth  denied 
their  advantages  because  a  few  abuse  their  privileges.  The  punish- 
ment of  the  bad,  if  there  are  any  bad,  is  the  protection  of  all  the  rest. 
It  is  an  essential  safeguard  to  safe  administration  and  the  wholesome 
living  of  the  crowd.  But  is  it  not  better  to  go  farther  and  hold  all  the 
boys  we  can  from  going  to  the  dogs  by  keeping  in  sympathy  and  touch 

(IV) 


with  them,  than  it  is  to  encourage  them  into  deviltry  through  the 
coldness  or  the  downright  dullness  or  nervelessness  or  cowardliness  of 
an  administration? 

The  logic'  of  the  situation  puts  this  burden  upon  the  president,  or 
upon  one  working  with  singleness  of  purpose  with  him.  Perhaps  the 
president  cannot  deal  with  all  directly,  but  that  is  no  reason  why  he 
should  not  go  as  far  as  he  may.  He  must  assume  responsibility  for 
management,  giving  the  right  turn  and  inspiration  to  it.  It  is  essen- 
tially an  exceutive  function.  The  sun  may  as  well  avail  himself  of 
the  help  of  a  cloud  to  save  his  face  when  a  board  of  trustees  begins  to 
make  preachments  filled  with  benevolent  advice  to  a  body  of  students ; 
and  even  the  man  in  the  moon  may  be  excused  if  he  shuts  one  eye  in 
contemplation  at  the  spectacle  of  a  university  senate  of  many  members 
undertaking  to  deal  with  a  college  boy  in  a  scrape. 

So  much  in  reference  to  routine.  The  president  who  only  follows 
routine,  of  course  falls  short.  He  is  to  construct  as  well  as  to  admin- 
ister. He  must  initiate  measures  which  will  result  in  larger  facilities, 
in  added  offerings  and  enterprises,  in  searching  out  new  knowledge,  in 
the  wider  application  of  principles  to  work,  and  not  only  in  the  usual, 
but  in  the  better  training  of  men  and  women  for  distinct  usefulness  in 
life.  He  is  not  only  to  see  that  plans  are  within  the  limits  of  re\'enues, 
that  the  physical  condition  of  the  plant  improves,  that  everything  is 
clean  and  attractive,  that  the  faculty  is  scientifically  productive,  that 
the  instruction  is  exact  and  the  spirit  true ;  but  he  is  to  take  the  steps 
which  will  keep  the  whole  organization  moving  ahead.  He  must 
adopt  and  promote  and  give  full  credit  for  movements  initiated  by 
others  when  their  propositions  are  safe  and  practical, — ^but  he  must 
also  be  alert  in  stopping  movements  which  will  not  go. 

Perhaps  more  important  than  all,  the  president  is  to  declare  from 
time  to  time  the  best  university  opinion  concerning  popular  move- 
ments and  the  serious  interests  of  the  state.  He  must  connect  the 
university  with  the  life  of  the  multitude,  and  exert  its  influence  for 
the  quickening  arid  guidance  of  that  public  opinion  which,  as  Talley- 
rand said,  is  more  powerful  than  all  the  monarchs  who  ever  lived  or 
all  the  laws  which  were  ever  declared. 

The  unitv  and  securitv  of  a  university  can  be  assured  only 
thorough  accountability  to  a  central  office.  While  every  one  is  to 
have  freedom  to  do  in  his  own  way  the  thing  he  is  set  to  do,  so  long  as 
his  way  proves  to  be  a  good  way,  the  harmony  of  the  whole  depends 
upon  the  parts  fitting  together  and  upon  definiteness  of  responsibility 
and  frequency  of  accountability.  No  self-respecting  man  is  going  to 
administer  a  great  office,  or  an  office  responsible  for  great  results,  and 
have  any  doubt  about  possessing  the  powers  necessary  or  incident  to 
the  performance  of  his  work.  He  will  have  enough  to  think  of  with- 
out having  any  doubt  upon  that  subject.     There  need  be  no  fear    of 

(18) 


19 

his  being  too  much  inflated  with  power.  There  will  be  enough  to 
take  the  conceits  out  of  him  and  keep  him  upon  the  earth.  If  he  con- 
not  exercise  the  powers  of  his  great  office,  and  yet  keep  steady  and 
sane,  there  is  no  hope  for  him  and  he  will  speedily  come  to  official  ruin. 
It  is  not  a  matter  of  uplifting  or  of  inflating  a  man;  but  of  getting  a 
man  who  can  meet  the  demands  of  a  great  situation . 

One  flt  to  be  trusted  with  large  powers  does  not  boast  of  them,  and 
he  does  not  need  to  exercise  them  very  often..  He  will  not  go  swag- 
gering about,  as  the  beadle  does  in  Dickens's  story,  always  pounding 
with  his  staft"  and  proclaiming  that  the  supreme  occasion  has  now 
come  for  which  he  was  created  a  parochial  beadle.  If  large  powers 
are  overused  or  abused,  the  man  who  does  it  comes  to  an  early  official 
end.  The  fact  of  the  presence  of  such  powers  makes  the  occasions  for 
their  exercise  less  frequent  than  they  otherwise  would  be.  There  is, 
happily,  a  higher  law  in  administration,  as  in  everything  else,  and  it 
both  supports  and  limits  the  use  of  means  to  the  accomplishing  of 
ends. 

Distinct  and  decisive  authority  in  both  the  legislative  and  excutive 
branches  of  university  government  is  vital  to  peace  and  productivity. 
Nothing  is  so  disheartening  as  chaotic  conditions  without  law  and 
leadership.  There  is  small  danger  from  autocrats  in  America  or  ty- 
rants in  American  universities.  There  is  more  danger  from  mistaken 
reasoning  about  the  means  and  methods  by  which  the  sentiment  of  a 
democratic  people  may  have  its  expression  and  their  wishes  have 
result.  Decisive  executive  authority  is  not  at  all  inconsistent — it  is 
thoroughly  consistent — with  democracy  in  government  and  freedom 
in  universities.  Democracies  are  as  much  entitled  as  any  other  form 
of  government  to  have  their  purposes  executed  and  get  things  done. 
Objections  to  this  are  sometimes  offered,  and  then,  of  course,  they  are 
placed  upon  public  grounds,  but  in  fact  they  rest  upon  personal  con- 
siderations. The  men  who  see  dangers  in  leadership,  and  in  the  sup- 
ports which  aid  leadership,  are  the  men  who  find  it  in  the  way  of  their 
peculiar  views  or  personal  ambitions;  and  rather  singularly  they  are 
also  the  men  who,  having  any  measure  of  independent  control  them- 
selves, bloom  into  as  sizable  specimens  of  the  species  martinet  as  can 
develop  in  purely  democratic  conditions. 

Of  course,  no  one  can  realize  the  hopes  which  center  in  a  university 
presidency,  without  being  able  to  work  harmoniously  with  others. 
There  must  be  a  true  deference  to  the  opinions  of  many,  and  scrupu- 
lous recognition  of  the  just,  though  unexpressed,  claims  of  all.  But 
we  must  never  forget  that  administrative  freedom  is  quite  as  inviol- 
able as  any  other  freedom,  even  in  a  university.  The  president  must 
mark  out  his  official  course  for  himself,  and  bear  the  responsibility  of 
it  without  cavil.  He  must  expect  to  suffer  criticism  and  opposition, 
even  contumely.     He  cannot  expect  that  the  work  he  has  to  do  will 

(19) 


20 

make  everyone  happy.  It  will  discomfit  many.  In  one  way  or 
another  thev  will  give  him  all  the  trouble  they  can.  The  protests  will 
be  loudest  because  of  the  very  acts  for  which  his  office  has  been  de- 
veloped. But  he  may  comfort  himself  with  the  reflection  that  if  the 
job  were  not  so  heavy  there  would  be  a  cheaper  man  to  manage  it,  and 
that  the  extent  of  the  opposition  is  often  the  measure  of  real  presi- 
dential business  that  is  being  performed.  In  any  event,  his  only  hope 
is  in  success,  and  he  cannot  go  around  the  duty  which  confronts  him 
without  inevitable  failure.  Conditions  may  easily  make  a  mere 
compromiser  of  him.  If  they  do,  the  waves  will  speedily  close  over 
his  official  remains  forever.  Some  choice  and  magnanimous  spirits 
will  help  him;  but  he  need  entertain  no  doubt  that  there  will  be  plenty 
more  on  every  side  to  try  out  the  stufl^  that  is  in  him,  and  that  they 
will  diligently  attend  to  the  trying-out.  process  until  enough  occurs  to 
convince  them  that  his  wisdom,  his  rational  conception  of  his  task,  his 
love  of  justice  and  sense  of  humor,  his  constructive  planning,  his  inde- 
pendence, and  his  fearlessness,  are  sufficient  to  ignore  little  people  and 
prove  him  worthy  of  as  great  an  opportunity  for  usefulness  and  honor 
as  ever  comes  to  any  man. 

All  this  calls  for  a  rare  man.  He  ought,  in  the  first  place,  to  be 
reasonably  at  peace  with  mankind  and  in  love  with  youth.  He  must 
have  the  gift  of  organizing  and  the  qualities  of  leadership.  He  ought 
to  have  been  trained  in  the  universities,  not  only  for  the  sake  of  his 
own  scholarship,  but  that  he  may  be  wholly  at  home  in  their  routine 
and  imbued  with  their  purposes.  He  must  be  moved  by  public  spirit 
as  distinguished  from  uni^^ersitv  routine  or  mere  scholarly  purpose. 
He  must  be  a  scholar, — but  not  necessarily  in  literature  or  science  or 
moral  philosophy.  It  is  quite  as  well  if  it  is  in  law,  or  engineering,  or 
political  historv.  He  must  be  sympathetic  with  all  learning.  He 
can  no  longer  hope  to  be  a  scholar  in  every  study.  He  can  hardly 
hope  to  administer  such  a  trust  or  fill  such  a  post  without  some  knowl- 
edge and  considerable  aptitude  for  law.  His  sense  of  justice  must  be 
keen,  his  power  of  discrimination  quick,  his  judgment  of  men  and 
women  accurate;  his  patience  and  politeness  must  give  no  sign  of 
tiring,  and  the  strength  of  his  purpose  to  accomplish  what  needs  to  be 
done  must  endure  to  the  very  end.  Yet  he  must  determine  differences 
and  decide  things.  He  must  have  the  power  of  expression,  as  well  as 
the  more  substantial  attainments.  Beyond  possessing  sense,  train- 
ing, outlook,  experience,  resistive  power,  decision  and  aggressiveness, 
he  ought  to  be  a  forceful  and  graceful  writer  and  at  least  an  acceptable 
public  speaker.  In  a  word,  the  president  of  an  American  university 
is  bound  to  be  not  only  one  of  the  most  profound  scholars,  but  quite 
as  much  one  of  the  very  great,  all-around  men  of  his  generation. 


(20) 


21 
CLOSER  RELATIONS  BETWEEN  TRUSTEES  AXD  FACULTY 

By  James  P.  Muxroe,  B.  S. 
Trustee  of  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology 

[By  permission  of  Science] 

I  venture  to  speak  upon  the  topic:  "Closer  Relations  between 
Trustees  and  Faculty  "because  I  am  in  this  respect  hermaphroditic. 
I  have  seen  service  upon  both  college  bodies,  and,  moreover,  have 
studied  certain  problems  of  public  school  administration  which  pre- 
sent many  points  of  analogy.  I  speak,  however,  with  only  that  half- 
knowledge  which  we  of  the  east,  unfamiliar  with  state-supported 
universities,  bring  to  the  important  questions  of  this  conference. 

It  is  a  common  cry  that  teachers — whether  in  colleges  or  in  schools 
— are  underpaid;  and  the  complaint  (especially  if  one  has  been  a 
school  official)  seems  amply  justified.  The  imperative  need  of  our 
American  college  faculties,  however,  is  not  higher  salaries;  it  is  larger 
professional  authority  and  more  genuine  freedom.  Those  attained, 
the  wage  question  will  take  care  of  itself.  It  is  true  that  teaching 
offers  no  such  money  prizes  as  does  law  or  medicine;  nevertheless,  the 
average  professor  or  schoolmaster  is  in  many  ways  better  situated 
than  the  average  lawyer  or  physician.  Despite  this  patent  fact,  the 
number  of  youth  who  deliberately  prepare  themselves  to  be  teachers, 
by  years  of  serious  study,  is  comparatively  small.  Young  men  of 
power  and  ambition  scorn  what  should  be  reckoned  the  noblest  of 
professions,  not  because  that  profession  condemns  them  to  poverty, 
but  because  it  dooms  them  to  a  sort  of  servitude.  The  American 
la\\n^'er  or  physician  is  subject  only  to  the  judgment  of  his  peers — 
that  is,  to  the  well-established  code  of  his  profession.  The  American 
teacher,  on  the  contrary,  especially  in  the  public  schools,  is  not  only 
subject  to — he  is  often  wholly  at  the  mercy  of  unsympathetic  lay- 
men. 

This  condition  is  inherent  in  the  American  svstem  of  education, 
and  neither  can  nor  should  be  wholly  abrogated.  The  teacher  serves 
the  public  (for  even  an  endowed  college  is  a  public  institution)  and 
must  rest,  therefore,  under  some  of  a  servant's  disabilities.  Yet, 
without  impairing  the  proper  powers  of  school  or  college  trustees,  it 
is  possible,  I  believe,  to  give  teachers — or  rather  to  restore  to  them — 
so  much  of  authority,  dignity  and  independence  as  shall  raise  teach- 
ing to  the  professional  status  of  the  law — to  a  position,  that  is,  where 
it  will  commend  itself  to  the  most  ambitious  and  best-trained  youth. 

The  medieval  universities,  as  you  know,  were  preeminently  nurs- 
eries and  citadels  of  intellectual  freedom  and  political  democracy. 
They  were"essentailly  federated  republics,  the  government  of  which 
pertained  either  to  the  whole  body  of  the  masters  *  *  *  or  to  the 
whole  body  of  the  students."    Moreover,  "what  slight  subordination 

(21) 


22 

did  exist,  was  in  the  beginning,  to  the  ecclesiastical  and,  later,  to  the 
civil  power."  The  American  universities,  also,  from  the  frontier  col- 
lege of  Harvard,  in  1636,  to  the  latest  frontier  (if  there  now  is  any 
such  place)  college  of  the  plains — have  been  strongholds  of  intellectual 
freedom;  but  in  their  administration  they  have  been  profoundly 
subordinate,  in  the  early  days  to  the  ecclesiastical,  and  later — directly 
or  indirectly — to  the  civil  power. 

This  subordination,  under  the  stress  of  circumstances,  l:as  pro- 
gressed until,  as  President  Pritchett  points  out  in  a  recent  admirable 
address,  the  American  university  has  become  an  autocracy,  wholly 
foreign  in  spirit  and  plan  to  our  political  ideals  and  little  short  of 
amazing  to  those  models  of  thoroughgoing  democracy,  the  German 
universities.  And  this  absolutism  of  the  American  university  is  not, 
as  in  the  days  of  the  scholastics,  an  autocracy  of  teachers  and  scholars ; 
it  is  an  autocracy  of  ecclesiastical  or  lay  trustees.  Whence  has  arisen 
this  astonishing  inversion?  Why  does  the  very  fountain  of  our  higher 
life  present  this  paradox?  Mainly,  I  think,  because  the  European 
universities  grew  from  within,  while  those  of  this  country  have  been 
established  from  without.  The  old  theocracy  of  New  England,  the 
younger  democracies  of  her  splendid  daughters,  created  colleges  to  fit 
youth  for  service  in  church  or  commonwealth,  and  they  placed 
over  them  men  of  notable  authority.  In  the  east,  the  hands  of  both 
church  and  state  have  been  largely  withdrawn;  but  in  their  place  have 
appeared  the  dead  or  living  hands  of  donors  demanding  that  their 
gifts  be  safeguarded  by  stable  and  substantially  irremovable  trustees. 
College  and  public  school  funds  are  no  less  sacred  than  they  are  co- 
lossal; and  those  who  administer  them  assume  high  legal  as  well  as 
moral  responsibility.  But  this  large  liability  has  been  more  than 
balanced  by  the  gift  of  almost  absolute  powers — powers  surpassing, 
perhaps, those  of  any  other  bodies.  I  do  not  know  how  it  is  here;  but 
in  Massachusetts  the  school  boards  are  virtually  despotic,  far  trans- 
cending in  authority  those  sturdy  democrats,  their  parent  town  meet- 
ings. 

Excepting  those  strictly  denominational,  the  balance  of  the  ex- 
traordinary legal  powers  given  to  college  trustees  has  gradually  passed 
from  the  hands  of  the  clergy  into  those  of  laymen  chosen,  as  a  rule,  for 
their  standing  as  financiers  rather  than  as  educators.  From  many 
aspects  this  has  been  a  salutary  change;  but  there  has  followed  from 
it  one  signal  disadvantage — that  of  putting  the  trustees  more  and 
more  out  of  touch  with  the  faculties  whose  members  they  appoint. 
Although  the  reverend  gentlemen  of  those  antique  college  boards 
could  scarcely  have  distinguished  a  government  bond  from  a  wildcat 
stock,  they  were  usually  scholars  by  inclination  and  teachers  by  pro- 
fession, and  their  relations  with  their  faculties  were  close  and  sym- 
pathetic; while  the  modern  financier  who,  by  skillful  investing,  secures 

(22) 


23 

every  possible  penny  of  income  for  his  college,  generally  finds  its 
educational  problems  quite  outside  his  range,  and  sees,  tVerefore,  less 
and  less  occasion  for  meeting,  or  even  knowing,  that  faculty  over 
which,  legally,  his  power  is  of  life  and  death. 

This  change  in  personnel,  however,  is  not  alone  responsible  for  the 
progressive  alienation  between  trustees  and  faculty.  That  estrange- 
ment has  come  about,  no  less,  through  the  rapid  growth  of  college 
curriculums  and  in  college  attendance.  When  educational  institutions 
were  small  and  their  courses  of  study  undifferentiated,  it  was  possible 
for  trustees,  even  though  not  trained  as  teachers,  to  acquire  an 
admirable  edvication  (so  far  as  concerned  their  own  college)  through 
intimate  relations  with  the  facultv  and  personal  supervision  of  their 
work.  But  with  the  enormous  development  in  numbers  and  com- 
plexity, this  old-fashioned  contact  between  trustees  and  teachers  has 
become  impossible,  and,  at  best,  a  trustee  can  now  make  himself 
familiar  with  only  that  department  of  the  university  which  it  is  his 
duty  (more  honored  in  the  breach  than  in  the  observance)  to  inspect. 
Therefore,  the  modern  trustee  has  gradually  withdrawn  from  the 
teaching  side  of  the  college  to  fix  his  attention  upon  those  questions 
of  revenue,  housing  and  legislation  which  have  multiplied  even  faster 
than  the  undergraduates. 

But  here  again  the  size  and  complexity  of  the  problem  are  appall- 
ing to  men  already  overweighted  with  other  responsibilities.  These 
material  questions,  however,  must  be  met  and  settled  just  as  those 
on  the  educational  side  must  be  faced  and  solved.  And  both  business 
and  political  experience  have  taught  men  of  the  world  that  the  quickest 
and  least  troublesome  way  to  solve  administrative  problems  is  to  give 
as  free  a  hand  as  possible  to  some  man  with  brains,with  tact, with  power 
of  initiative,  of  leadership,  and  of  persuasion — wdth,  in  short,  those 
peculiar  abilities  which  distinguish  the  generals  of  our  intricate  twen- 
tieth century  enterprises. 

Hence  has  arisen  the  modern  college  president — a  being  as  different 
from  the  awe-inspiring  clergymen  of  the  eighteenth  century  or  from 
such  men  as  Joshua  Quincy  (who  was  given  the  presidency  of  Harvard 
as  a  sort  of  haven  for  his  declining  years)  as  it  is  possible  to  imagine. 
The  modern  executives  have  had  thrust  upon  them  powers  which  give 
to  their  decrees  the  finality  of  an  imperial  ukase.  They  have  assumed 
such  sway,  not  from  love  of  dominion,  but  because  their  task  is  so 
enormous  that  nothing  short  of  practically  plenary  powers  would 
permit  of  its  being  done  at  all.  And  it  should  be  said  to  their  honor 
that  they  have  met  the  demands  upon  them  as  organizers  and  admin- 
istrators so  ably  that,  today,  the  leaders  of  the  country  are  not,  as 
formerly,  the  great  statesmen  and  clergymen;  they  are  these  modern 
Caesars — the  heads  of  our  principal  colleges  and  universities. 

These   modern    presidents   have    their   cabinets   in    the   board   of 

(23) 


24 

trustees  (if  that  board  be  small)  or  in  an  executive  committee  selected 
from  it  if  the  board  be  large;  they  have  their  staff  in  the  several 
administrative  officers,  such  as  deans  and  registrars;  they  have  their 
field  officers  in  the  heads  of  departments  or  courses;  and  the  work  of 
the  great  machine,  through  committees,  sub-committees,  labor-saving 
devices  and  automatic  methods  of  reporting,  is  as  smooth-running 
(and  sometimes,  I  fear,  almost  as  impersonal)  as  a  well-developed 
mercantile  establishment.  We  have  here  a  conspicuous  example  of 
the  current  tendency  toward  one-man  power,  towards  that  concentra- 
tion of  authority  which  makes,  of  course,  for  ease,  rapiditv  and  sure- 
ness  of  administration;  but  which,  in  politics,  undermines  manhood; 
in  industrialism,  destroys  initiative;  and  in  education  tends  to  defeat 
the  very  object  of  teaching,  which  should  be  to  develop  and  to  make 
the  most  of  every  man's  individuality.  If  the  goal  of  a  college  were 
the  giving  of  mere  instruction,  nothing  could  be  better  than  the  present 
system  of  administration;  but  colleges  should  be  fountains  of  true 
education,  and  the  best  part  of  education  comes  through  the  personal 
influence  of  the  older  governors  and  teachers  upon  adolescent,  and 
therefore  highl}^  impressionable,  youth. 

Most  modern  colleges  have  expensive  and  excellent  material  plants 
utilized  substantially  to  their  full  capacity.  They  possess,  also, 
admirable  executives  who,  as  I  have  said,  are  used  away  bevond  their 
limits  of  endurance.  But  those  colleges  have  also  other  educational 
forces  which  are  not  availed  of,  in  my  opinion,  to  anvthing  like  their 
normal  maximum.  Those  less  used  forces  are:  (1)  The  personal 
influence,  as  teachers  and  men  (not  as  mere  administrators)  of  the 
leaders  of  the  faculty — an  influence  which  should  be  exerted  upon 
both  students  and  trustees;  (2)  the  personal  influence,  as  men  of 
power  and  broad  human  experience  (not  as  mere  monev-holders) 
of  the  trustees — an  influence  which  should  extend  to  students  as  well 
as  faculty;  and  (3)  the  perennial  and  unselfish  loyaltv  of  the  alumni, 
together  with  the  unique  experience  given  to  those  graduates  in 
gauging  their  collegiate  training  by  the  tests  of  life.  The  third  force 
is  beyond  the  scope  of  the  present  paper;  but  let  it  not  be  inferred, 
therefore,  that  I  regard  it  as  any  less  potent  than  the  other  two. 
Indeed,  in  the  last  analysis,  the  moral  as  well  as  the  financial  strength 
of  a  college  must  come  from  its  own  sons. 

As  has  already  been  suggested,  the  complexity  and  autocracy  of 
the  American  university  have  converted  the  strongest  men  of  the 
faculty — the  men,  therefore,  whose  personal  influence  upon  the  stu- 
dents would  be  of  the  highest  value — into  .subordinate  administrators 
harassed  with  details  of  department  maintenance  and  committee 
attendance.  As  a  necessary  result,  the  teaching  is  put  largely  into 
the  hands  of  recently  graduated  youth,  zealous  but  not  alwavs  wise, 
untrained  in  the  science  and  art  of  teaching,   and  quite  incapable, 

(24) 


25 

of  course,  of  giving  to  their  classes  the  inspiration  which  comes  from 
contact  with  men  of  wide  experience.  This  throws  the  severest  strain 
of  the  college  upon  the  weakest  part,  and  from  it  arises  much  of  our 
educational  ineffectiveness.  Mere  information,  lesson -hearing,  exam- 
inations, become  paramount;  scholarship  and  character  are  well-nigh 
forgotten,  being  impossible  to  register  by  even  the  most  elaborate 
machinery. 

The  trustees,  on  the  other  hand — excepting  those  who  constitute 
the  president's  cabinet — find  less  and  less  opportunitv  for  usefulness 
in  a  machine  so  elaborate  that  any  incursion  into  it,  bv  those  un- 
familiar, may  do  infinite  harm.  Therefore  most  of  them  drift  into 
the  belief  that  their  tru.st  is  discharged  by  attendance  upon  stated 
meetings  and  by,  perhaps,  an  annual  visit  to  that  department  which, 
nominally,  is  their  especial  care.  Yet  the  personal  influence  upon  the 
students  of  men  like  college  trustees  would  be  second  only,  in  educa- 
tional value,  to  that  of  the  leading  members  of  the  facultv.  I  am  not 
prepared  to  suggest  any  plan  by  which  the  trustees  can  be  brought 
into  direct  personal  relations  with  the  students;  but  I  firmly  believe 
that  such  a  plan  could  be  devised ;  and  I  know  that  nothing  so  vivifies 
a  man  of  middle  life  and  of  large  responsibilities,  nothing  so  clears 
his  brain  and  rejuvenates  his  heart,  as  comradeship  with  bubbling 
and  eager  imdergraduates. 

Whether  or  not  trustees  can  broaden  their  powers  and  sweeten 
their  responsibilities  by  thus  meeting  their  students  directly,  it  is 
clear  that  they  can  influence  them  indirectly  by  establishing  closer 
relations  with  those  young  men's  teachers.  For  their  pupils'  sakes 
and  for  their  own  advantage,  the  professors  need  the  stimulus  and 
the  breadth  of  view  which  they  would  get  from  looking  at  the  world 
through  the  eyes  of  such  a  man  of  affairs  as  the  usual  trustee;  those 
trustees,  on  the  other  hand,  need  the  insight  into  true  education  and 
into  the  difficulties  of  training  youth  which  they  would  secure  from 
intimate  contact  with  the  members  of  their  faculty.  The  money 
conservatism  of  the  trustee,  hesitating  to  grant  funds  for  new  enter- 
prises, needs  to  be  enlightened  by  the  vision  which  the  teacher  has  of 
the  demands  and  possibilities  of  higher  education.  Per  contra,  the 
academic  conservatism  of  the  scholar  needs  to  be  quickened  by  the 
hard  world-experience  of  a  man  of  more  varied  responsibilities.  That 
purblind  vision  of  the  "practical"  man  which  exaggerates  material 
success  requires  enlightenment  through  the  opposite,  but  no  less  pur- 
blind, vision  of  the  scholar  which  magnifies  intellectual  achievement. 
Each  point  of  view  is  essential  to  the  ends  of  true  education,  and 
unless  each  in  authoritv  can  see  and  understand  the  other's  outlook, 
the  university  will  suffer  and  its  youth  will  be  defrauded  of  some  of 
the  best  things  in  college. 

At  present — except  for  certain  perfunctory  visiting — almost  the 

(25) 


26 

sole  point  of  contact  between  trustees  and  faculty  is  their  common 
sovereign,  the  president,  who,  as  I  have  tried  to  show,  has  adminis- 
trative duties  and  responsibilities  beyond  normal  powers.  Moreover, 
however  conscientious  he  may  be,  his  personal  equation  cannot  but 
enter  into  his  interpretations — so  to  speak — between  two  bodies  of 
which  he  alone  is  a  common  factor.  It  is  essential  to  his  leadership 
that  he  should  have  large  powers  over  the  teaching  staff,  but  the 
opinions  of  the  most  perfect  of  administrators  as  to  the  individuals 
under  his  benevolent  despotism  should  have  the  salutary  check  of 
others'  close  and  unbiased  observations. 

In  order,  therefore,  that  there  mav  be  manv  instead  of  only  one 
channel  of  understanding  between  trustees  and  faculty  (as  well  as  for 
the  more  subtle  reasons  suggested  earlier),  I  would  advocate  most 
earnestly  the  creation  in  everv  board  of  trustees  of  a  new  standing 
committee.  This  committee  should  be  most  carefully  chosen,  and 
its  duty  should  be  to  confer,  at  stated  and  frequent  intervals,  with  a 
like  standing  committee  of  the  faculty,  selected  freely  by  that  body 
itself.  And  I  would  advise,  further,  that  this  conference  committee 
be  distinct,  if  possible,  from  that  executive  committee  which  I  have 
called  the  president's  cabinet,  and  that  no  legislation  of  any  conse- 
quence should  be  passed  by  the  executive  committee  or  by  the  trustees 
as  a  whole  without  the  concurrence. of  this  joint  committee.  And — 
at  least  so  far  as  relates  to  questions  having  anv  educational  bearing 
— I  would  have  it  understood  that  the  joint  committee  should  not 
concur  until  the  proposed  action  had  been  submitted  to  the  faculty 
as  a  whole,  had  been  debated,  if  so  desired,  before  the  standing  com- 
mittee and  the  executive  committee  sitting  in  joint  session,  and  had 
been  approved  by  at  least  a  majority  of  the  teaching  staff. 

Such  a  general  plan  as  this  (the  details  of  which,  needless  to  say, 
would  differ  with  each  college)  could  not  fail,  it  seems  to  me,  to  in- 
crease the  educational  efficiency  of  a  college  to  an  extraordinary  degree 
by  coordinating  the  views  of  those  without  and  those  within  the  daily 
routine  of  teaching;  by  establishing  a  clear  understanding,  in  each 
body,  of  the  other's  problems;  by  relieving  the  executive  of  a  sub- 
stantial portion  of  his  crushing  load,  through  increasing  the  legislative 
and  administrative  responsibility  of  the  faculty;  and,  not  least,  by 
making  that  faculty — without  adding  to  its  legal  powers — a  body 
coordinate  with,  instead  of  subordinate  to,  the  board  of  trustees. 
Unless  American  college  teachers  can  be  assured  by  some  change  as 
this  that  they  are  no  longer  to  be  looked  upon  as  mere  employees  paid 
to  do  the  bidding  of  men  who,  however  courteous  or  however 
eminent,  have  not  the  faculty's  professional  know^ledge  of  the  compli- 
cated problems  of  education,  our  universities  will  suffer  increasingly 
from  a  dearth  of  strong  men  and  teaching  will  remain  outside  the 
pale  of  really  learned  professions.     As  I  said  in  the  beginning,  the 

(26) 


27 

problem  is  not  one  of  wages ;  for  no  university  can  ever  become  rich 
enough  to  buy  the  independence  of  any  man  who  is  really  worth  the 
purchasing. 

This  plan  of  cooperation  would  not,  however,  except  to  a  limited 
degree,  bring  the  trustees  as  men  into  close  contact  with  the  faculty 
as  men.  And  the  plan  which  I  offer  towards  that  second  aim  is  put 
forward  with  much  greater  diffidence.  The  scheme  of  a  joint  s.tand- 
ing  committee  would  be  productive,  I  feel  certain,  of  most  happy 
results;  but  of  mv  minor  proposition  I  am  not  so  sure.  This  second 
plan  is  to  make  everv  member  of  the  board  of  trustees  an  adminis- 
trative officer  in  that  branch  of  the  college  work  (so  far  as  possible) 
which  is  most  congenial  to  him,  giving  him  no  special  individual 
powers  over  his  assigned  department,  but  increasing  his  responsibil- 
ities by  making  him — together  with  one  or  more  of  his  colleagues — 
the  direct  and  responsible  channel  of  information  between  that  de- 
partment and  the  whole  board  of  trustees.  It  is  already  customary 
in  most  colleges  to  create  visiting  committees  with  the  duty  of  pre- 
senting annual  reports;  my  suggestion  would  make  substance  out  of 
what  is  now  little  more  than  shadow,  by  having  it  formally  under- 
stood that  in  all  matters  relating  to  his  department  the  trustee  would 
be  looked  to  for  reliable  information  and  responsible  advice. 

Difficulties,  of  course,  stand  thick  in  the  way  of  such  a  project. 
Among  them  are  the  unwillingness  of  already  busy  trustees  to  accept 
further  responsibilities,  the  danger  of  personal  friction  between  the 
trustee  and  the  department  head,  and  the  natural  fear  on  the  part  of 
the  teacher  that  "administration"  might  spell  itself  to  the  trustee  as 
mere  officiousness.  It  seems  to  me,  however,  that  a  short  acquaint- 
ance with  the  minutise  of  a  college  department  would  show  the  trustee 
that  the  professor's  as  well  as  his  own  time  is  far  too  valuable  to  be 
given  to  details  of  administration,  and  that  college  funds  could  in  no 
way  be  made  more  productive  than  by  giving  the  heads  of  departments 
such  clerks  and  underlings  as  would  release  them  from  much  killing 
drudgery.  There  is  no  greater  extravagance  than  to  permit  an 
expensively  trained  man  to  do  ten-dollar-a-week  work.  And  that 
same  short  acquaintance  would,  I  believe,  so  interest  the  trustee  and 
so  increase  his  respect  for  what  is  being  done  and  what  is  still  to  do, 
that  officiousness  or  meddling  would  become  impossible. 

These  two  plans,  if  found  practicable  and  if  developed  in  a  spirit 
of  enthusiasm,  would  lead  to  many  other  points  of  helpful  contact 
between  trustees  and  faculty  and  would  discover,  I  think,  unsuspected 
avenues  of  mutual  help.  And  by  these  or  some  like  methods  trustees 
and  faculties  must  be  brought  more  closely  together  unless  we  wish 
to  see  the  growing  alienation  of  the  administrative  and  teaching 
staffs  develop  into  a  real  and  fatal  breach.  Separation  involves 
mutual  misunderstanding  and  that,  even  among  educated  men,  leads 

(27) 


28 

as  in  industrial  enterprsies,  to  arrogance  on  the  part  of  the  employer, 
to  suspicion  and  dislike  on  the  side  of  the  employed.  If  cooperation 
seems  imperative — as  I  think  it  does — to  the  solution  of  the  problems 
of  industrialism,  how  much  more  necessary  is  it  if  we  are  to  solve  the 
educational  riddle.  Cooperation  would  teach  the  trustees  the  antip- 
odal difference  between  the  problems  of  a  university  and  those  of  a 
business  corporation,  and,  at  the  same  time,  would  show  the  faculty 
the  importance  of  business  methods  and  thorough  organization. 
Cooperation  would  get  things  done  without  compelling  our  univer- 
sities to  take  refuge  in  an  autocracy  which,  harmful  in  itself,  is  breed- 
ing a  race  of  youth  who  scorn  the  slow  methods  of  democracy.  It 
would  develop  trustees  who  actually,  instead  of  fictitiously,  compre- 
hend their  trust;  it  would  unite  faculties  which,  under  the  strain  of 
departmental  complexity,  are  fast  disintegrating;  it  would  double 
the  educational  efficiency  of  our  colleges;  and,  most  important  of  all 
it  would  make  our  universities,  as  they  ought  to  be,  supreme  preservers 
instead  of  conspicuous  destroyers,  of  that  genuine  spirit  of  democracy 
which,  more  than  schools,  more  than  churches,  more  than  any  other 
human  agency,  has  uplifted  mankind  and  builded  civilization. 


DISCUSSION 

By  Mrs.  Norman  Frederick  Thompson,  A.  B. 
Trustee  of  Wellesley  College 

In  our  American  politics,  there  is  at  least  one  doctrine  which  is 
generally  accepted,  that  known  as  the  "Monroe  Doctrine;"  and  now 
it  would  seem  to  me,  as  doubtless  to  you  all,  that  the  speaker,  Mr. 
Munroe,  who  has  just  finished,  has  enunciated  an  equally  to  be  ac- 
cepted Munroe  doctrine  in  acadenaic  politics.  Certainly  the  ideal  he 
has  formulated  of  a  closer  union  between  trustees  and  faculty  is  one 
always  to  be  held  in  mind,  always  to  be  striven  for  and  perhaps 
attained,  when  we  shall  have  developed  a  leisure  class  among  our  men 
of  culture,  with  lives  consecrated  to  social  service. 

Just  as  our  American  life  is  now  organized,  it  is  a  trinity  that  is 
very  hard  to  find,  that  of  culture  united  with  leisure,  and  the  desire 
to  serve.  It  is  not  found  often  among  the  members  of  our  trustee 
boards,  and  until  it  is,  I  doubt  somewhat  the  practicability  of  the 
proposed  plan,  except  for  a  very  limited  number  on  a  trustee  board. 

The  academic  Munroe  doctrine,  like  the  original  Monroe  doctrine, 
develops  difficulties  in  attempting  to  apply  it,  and  I  may  be  pardoned 
for  pointing  out  these  difficulties  in  order  that  they  may  be  avoided. 

Certainly  a  trustee  board  has  a  large  and  serious  trust  that  cannot 
be  deputized  and  one  that  must  be  administered  in  a  large  way.  That 
we  all  admit.  We  also  admit  the  necessity"  for  as  close  relations  as 
possible  between  that  board  and  the  faculty. 

Let  us,  for  the  sake  of  getting  down  to  facts  relative  to  the  present 

(28) 


29 

relationship  between  the  two,  take  up  in  detail  a  tj'pical  board.  We 
find  such  a  board  made  up  of  business  men  who  are  in  the  very  midst 
of  the  strain  and  stress  of  Anierican  business  life,  professional  men, 
who  are  clergymen  or  lawyers,  also  occupied  with  affairs,  usually  a 
a  few  older  men  of  some  leisure,  perhaps  two  or  three  women,  possess- 
ing indeed  the  trinity  of  which  I  spoke,  and  on  many  boards,  repre- 
sentation from  the  Alumni,  whose  province  is  quite  distinct  and  not 
to  be  discussed  now. 

On  examining  such  a  board  in  detail,  we  would  find  the  board 
possessing  an  executive  committee,  whose  relation  to  the  faculty  is 
much  the  same  as  that  suggested  by  Mr.  Munroe.  But  on  such  a 
board  as  I  have  described,  which  is,  I  am  sure,  the  usual  board,  there 
would  be  very  few  men  available  for  executive  committee  work. 

To  extend  from  this  executive  committee  to  the  board  as  a  whole, 
or  to  a  large  part  of  it,  any  such  intimate  connection  as  Mr.  Munroe 
advocates,  would  be  frought  with  great  danger.  Either  the  relation- 
ship would  become  perfunctory,  and  so  of  no  value,  or  if  we  did  require 
it  from  these  men  so  absorbed  in  such  widely  divergent  interests, 
short  of  time,  biased  by  exclusive  attention,  each  to  his  partictilar 
business  or  profession,  we  should  be  in  a  danger  of  hampering  seriously 
a  president  and  his  corps  of  assistants. 

I  question  also  whether  such  a  plan  might  not  lead  to  too  much 
direct  participation  on  the  part  of  some  of  the  trustees  in  the  method 
and  plan  of  instruction,  apart  from  the  danger,  also  real,  that  such  a 
division  of  responsibility  would  hardly  be  desirable. 

If  a  teacher  should  stand  on  the  platform  with  one  eye  on  the  pupil 
and  the  other  on  the  president  or  trustee,  we  should  not  get  his  best. 
He  must  have  complete  freedom, — the  German  lehrjreiheit, — if  we  are 
to  get  from  him  his  best  self.  To  be  a  truly  great  teacher,  he  must  be 
one,  who  like  the  fabled  bird  that  nourished  its  young  with  its  heart's 
blood,  gives  of  himself  without  counting  the  cost. 

We  cannot  get  this  if  there  should  grow  up  any  union  of  trustees 
and  faculty  that  should  partake  in  any  way  of  the  nature  of  inter- 
ference on  the  part  of  the  trustee,  with  methods  of  instruction  or 
government.  The  relation  should  be  one  rather  of  intelligent  sym- 
pathy on  the  part  of  the  trustee,  carried  perhaps  even  to  the  point  of 
the  attitude  of  a  learner.  The  point  I  desire  to  make  is,  that  we 
have  not  now  in  America  enough  men  of  leisure  to  make  such  a  close 
union  as  the  one  proposed  practicable. 

Lyman  Abbott  claims  that  the  secret  of  his  success  as  a  journalist 
is  that  he  makes  it  a  point  to  get  the  best  man  possible  for  a  vacant 
place  and  then  give  him  an  entirely  free  hand.  When  the  subject  of 
this  discussion  was  telegraphed  to  me  at  Washington  last  week,  where 
I  had  gone  with  my  hu.sband  to  attend  the  Bankers'  Convention,  it 
seemed  to  me  at  once  that  there  was  a  close  analogy  between  the 

(29) 


30 

trustee  boards  of  our  educational  institutions  and  the  board  of  direc- 
tors of  a  bank.  I  asked  several  prominent  bankers,  "Could  you  or 
would  you  be  willing  to  run  your  banks  by  bringing  your  directors 
into  this  sort  of  a  close  relationship?"  Each  one  answered  in  the 
negative.  They  were  unanimous  in  asserting  that  where  the  greatest 
liberty  had  been  given  executive  officers,  the  greatest  success  had  been 
made.  The  directors  of  the  bank  are  informed,'  as  are  the  trustee 
boards,  of  the  general  policy  to  be  pursued,  and  to  a  certain  extent 
determine  it,  but  this  only  in  the  broadest  outline;  the  actual  manage- 
ment rests  with  the  officers,  who  would  be  much  hampered  if  there 
was  an  attempt  at  a  closer  union  between  them  and  the  directorate. 
Some  such  relation  was  in  my  mind  when  I  framed  these  few  remarks. 
The  liberty  I  advocate  is  in  intimate  harmony  with  the  entire  trend 
of  our  American  democracy  and  results  in  that  self  restraint  which  is 
the  flower  of  liberty,  and  that  self  respect  which  is  the  flower  of  man- 
hood. 

There  is,  however,  a  wide  field  outside  of  academic  activity  where 
trustees,  even  the  busy  business  man  of  to-day,  can  and  should  unfold 
a  wholesome  activity,  the  details  of  which  are  to  be  taken  up  later  in 
these  conferences;  for  there  is  not  only  the  academic  side,  but  the 
administrative  and  financial  side,  while  paramount  always  is  the  duty 
of  watchfulness, — not  of  detail,  but  of  the  whole. 

Our  colleges  are  founded,  not  merely  to  disseminate  the  knowledge 
the  human  race  has  accumulated,  but  as  exponents  of  the  best  ideals 
of  manhood,  the  harmonious  development  of  man,  physically,  socially, 
intellectually  morally.  Often  the  one  who  is  watching  the  trend  of 
college  life  from  some  outside  vantage  point,  such  as  a  position  on  a 
trustee  board  would  give,  is  better  able  to  judge  of  the  result  attained 
and  its  relation  to  the  larger  life  beyond  the  college  walls  than  those 
in  intimate  contact. 

It  seems  to  me  whatever  plan  is  formulated,  whatever  cooperation 
is  attained,  it  should  not  be  too  close  for  this  wider  view  and  that  the 
real  province  of  the  conscientious  trustee  is  to  watch,  watch,  watch! 


(30) 


31 


SECOND    SESSION 


-       THE  ACADEMIC  CAREER  AS  AFFECTED  BY 
ADMINISTRATION 

By  Professor  Joseph  Jastrow 
University  of  Wisconsin 

It  is  mv  purpose  to  discuss  in  accordance  with  the  central  theme 
of  this  conference,  the  influences  exerted  upon  the  Academic  Career 
by  the  present  administrative  conduct  of  university  affairs.  Whether 
or  not  we  are  prepared  to  admit  that  whate\'er  is  best  administered 
is  best,  it  seems  both  fair  and  profitable  to  judge  the  value  of  admin- 
istrative provisions  by  the  success  with  which  they  further  the  vital 
ends  to  which  they  are  bvit  means.  Clearly  the  administration  of  a 
universitv  is  no  end  in  itself,  but  only  a  subordinate  contributorv 
measure  for  advancing  the  real  interests  of  the  higher  education. 
Boards  of  trustees  and  presidents  and  deans  and  committees  would 
be  only  a  hindrance  and  not  in  the  least  a  help  to  the  cause  for  which 
universities  exist,  if  these  offices  could  not  justify  their  existence  and 
the  methods  of  their  maintenance  by  their  furtherance  of  worthy 
educational  ideals.  Altogether  too  long  has  there  prevailed  alike  an 
unquestioned  assumption  that  such  is  the  case,  and — still  more  un- 
fortunately— a  timid  suppression  or  unpatient  frowning  down  of  any 
questioning  in  regard  thereto. 

It  would  be  desirable,  but  may  not  be  practicable,  to  consider  in 
"an  historical  temper,  how  American  conditions  have  developed  a 
distinctive  scheme  of  university  administration, — a  system  that  de- 
parts from  the  models  of  the  Old  World  in  a  direction  peculiarly 
incompatible  with  our  national  ideals  and  principles.  To  say  that 
the  governement  of  universities  is  undemocratic  may  be  no  fatal  con- 
demnation, but  it  indicates  a  singular  departure  from  the  spirit  that 
animates  many  of  our  formal  administrative  measures  even  outside 
of  the  political  field.  The  situation,  moreover,  is  the  more  notable 
because  foreign  universities  in  pronounced  aristocratic  countries  offer 
the  contrast  of  placing  the  welfare  of  the  culture  and  academic  life — 
the  authority  as  well  as  the  responsibility — upon  those  whose  life- 
work  is  bound  up  with,  and  furthered  by  such  institutions,  and  of 
thus  adopting  for  monarchical  universities  a  thoroughly  democratic 
form  of  government.  President  Pritchett's  review  of  this  and  allied 
situations  (Atlantic  Monthly:  September,  IQf^S)  may  be  cordially 
commended.     He  does  not  hestiate  to  say  that  our  autocratic  methods 

(31) 


32 

of  university  management  would  be  nothing  less  than  intolerable  to 
the  German  scholar,  while  emphasizing  that  the  German  method  is 
precisely  what  the  spirit  of  our  institutions  would  presumably  fa\'or. 
This  inconsistency  of  university  government  with  the  natural  ideals 
which  university  teaching  is  called  upon  to  foster,  is  certainly  sig- 
nificant. 

It  needs  no  discernment  to  discover  that  the  actual  and  author- 
itative government  of  our  colleges  and  universities  does  not  rest  with 
the  faculties  thereof;  it  rests  with  the  president  and  the  Board  of 
trustees  or  regents.  In  spite  of  the  diversity  of  practice,  the  distri- 
bution of  authority  has  unmistakeably  emphasized,  and  increasingly, 
the  importance  of  the  presidential  office  and  the  regulative  function 
of  the  board,  and  has  given  to  the  faculty  a  less  and  less  influential 
voice  in  the  actual  direction  of  affairs,  in  the  initiative  of  educational 
expansion  and  in  the  shaping  and  control  of  the  academic  career. 
The  central  question  that  cannot  and  should  not  be  longer  avoided — 
but  which  should  be  asked  in  a  perfectly  amicable,  thoroughly  helpful, 
wholly  impartial  temper,  is  whether  present  arrangements  are  to  be 
approved  and  gradually  improved ;  or  whether  they  are  to  be  regarded 
as  fundamentally  unfortunate,  as  something  of  a  menace  to  the 
security  of  our  educational  future.  If  any  profit  is  to  come  from  the 
discussion,  the  same  frankness  that  approaches  so  serious  a  question 
with  honest  doubt  but  without  timidity,  must  be  adopted  both  by 
those  who  uphold  and  by  those  who  oppose  the  spirit  and  issues  of 
actual  institutions.  In  this  spirit  I  place  myself  with  those  who  look 
with  alarm  upon  the  further  growth  of  present-day  tendencies,  and 
who  believe  that  both  logic  and  policy  point  to  an  administration  of 
university  affairs  that  shall  be  based  upon  a  different  emphasis  of 
principles,  upon  a  different  administrative  temper. 

Doubtless  many  of  the  conditions  both  favorable  and  unfavorable 
have  grown  up  in  very  indirect  connection  with  any  well-matured 
policy.  They  have  taken  shape  rather  by  the  stress  of  circumstance, 
by  provisional  expediency,  by  the  necessity  of  advancing  as  one  could  if 
one  were  to  advance  at  all;  and  this  fact  offers  not  only  a  large  measure  of 
excuse  for  existing  deficiencies  but  also  lightens  the  task  of  those  who 
question  whether  future  wisdom  lies  where  the  prudent  compromise 
of  the  past  has  directed.  I  repeat,  then,  that  the  fundamental  stand- 
ard by  which  administrative  means  are  to  be  judged  is  that  of  meeting' 
the  cultural  ends  for  which  universities  are  called  into  being.  And 
with  equal  confidence  it  is  urged  that  those  whose  training  and  talents 
and  purposes  in  life  are  concerned  professionally  with  these  cultural 
ends  are  best  fitted  and  most  justly  entitled  to  the  shaping  of  the 
policy  and  the  practical  direction  of  affairs  of  the  institutions  whose 
guidance  is  an  intimate  part  of  their  lives.  The  appeal  of  these 
principles  to  the  judgment  of  those  conversant  with  or  appreciative  of 

(32) 


33 

matters  intellectual,  seems  to  me  so  overwhelmingly  strong  that  the 
mere  placing  of  them  in  this  fundamental  formative  position  is  ade- 
quate to  common  and  general  assent. 

The  practical  interests  transfer  the  discussion  to  the  limitations 
and  possible  dangers  of  too  formal  a  following  of  this  doctrine.  For, 
above  all.  the  situation  is  a  practical  one;  here,  as  elsewhere,  a 
condition  confronts  us,  but  also  here,  as  elsewhere,  a  condition 
that  derives  illumination  from  an  application  thereto  of  an  appropriate 
theory.  American  conditions,  as  they  effect  universities,  are  so  com- 
plex, so  unprecedented,  and  so  entirely  unprovided  for  by  governmental 
or  other  regulations,  that  we  must  solve  the  problems  of  their  mainte- 
nance more  independently  than  would  be  the  case  in  older  commun- 
ities. It  has  been  our  national  fate  to  be  called  upon  to  feel  our  way 
by  practical  wisdom,  often  by  a  hand-to-mouth  policy,  with  justi- 
fiable satisfaction  at  the  notable  achievements  that  followed  so  closely 
upon  the  remoteness  from  opportunity  of  the  pioneer.  This  intensely 
practical  development  found  natural  expression  in  assigning  the  man- 
agement of  academic,  as  of  all  other  public  concerns,  particularly  as 
matters  of  finance,  to  a  non-professional  body  of  citizens;  and  to  this 
body  has  been  given  the  largest  legal  authority  and  indirectly  a  pe- 
culiarly formidable  control  of  the  entire  university  interests.  That 
this  control  has  in  the  past  been  variously  unfortunate  is  not  a  point 
upon  which  I  wish  to  dwell.  Let  the  past  stand  as  it  is,  and  serve  its 
worthiest  purpose  in  warning  against  the  dangers  of  the  future.  The 
practical  issue  arises  not  so  much  from  the  constituted  authority  as 
from  the  mode  of  using  it.  Here  is  the  nub  of  the  whole  matter;  and 
here  some  measure  of  human  psychology  enters.  It  seems  difficult 
for  our  civilization  to  foster  the  type  of  man  who  has  authority  but 
finds  the  highest  use  of  this  possession  in  the  restraint  thereof,  inhold- 
ing  it  in  check  for  an  emergency.  Why  have  authority  if  not  to  exer- 
cise it  freely  and  conspicuously,  even  to  the  show  of  power  for  the  sake 
of  showing  power!  Other  ways  may  be  better;  but  what  we  say 
"goes, "  as  the  phrase  of  the  street  has  it.  Naturally  such  an  impulse 
can  find  consoling  excuse  for  its  distrust  to  ^deld  to  others  any  share 
of  vested  authoritv,  can  readilv  overlook  that  not  the  statutory  pro- 
visions, but  the  spirit  in  which  they  are  carried  out,  forms  the  essence 
of  all  that  is  writ  in  the  laws  and  the  prophets.  It  is  possibly  because 
this  quality  of  human  nature — for  which  the  American  idiom  has 
evolved  the  term  "boss" — is  less  pronounced  in  the  academic  man 
than  in  almost  anv  other,  that  he  finds  it  difficult  to  realize  how  vitally 
it  affects  the  motives  and  actions  of  men  devoted  to  other  affairs.  I 
confess  that  I  found  incomprehensible  the  declaration  of  one  whose 
character  commands  my  admiration  that  he  would  far  prefer  to  be 
mayor  of  Chicago  than  President  of  the  United  States;  and  for  no 
other  reason  than  that  the  exercise  of  the  personal  power  of  which  the 

(33) 


34 

former  officer  disposes,  would  furnish  him  with  the  keenest  satisfac- 
tion, the  most  deeply  felt  tribute  to  his  own  success.  That  such  type 
of  man  possesses  many  qualities  of  great  value  must  be  admitted; 
but  such  qualities  are  in  no  situation  less  appropriate  than  in  the 
governing  boards  of  universities;  there,  if  anj'where,  is  needed  one 
who  finds  within  him  no  impulse  to  use  power  wantonly,  no  tendency 
to  control  where  cooperation  alone  is  desired,  to  interpret  his  office 
in  any  other  spirit  than  of  determining,  with  generous  confidence  in 
expert  opinion,  what  ends  are  most  to  be  desired,  and  of  using  his 
practical  wisdom  in  aiding  the  purposes  of  the  common  cause.  As 
the  national  experiments  in  benevolent  assimilation  have  been  more 
notable  for  their  assimilative  than  for  their  benevolent  success,  so 
has  the  trustees'  interpretation  of  cooperative  control  emphasized 
the  latter  to  the  disparagement  of  the  former  element.  That  the 
correction  for  this  tendency  lies  neither  in  the  abolition  of  the  board 
of  trustees,  not  necessarity  in  its  reconstruction,  but  only  in  the  trans- 
formation of  the  policy  by  which  the  division  of  authority  between 
them  and  the  faculty  shall  be  regulated,  will  appear  in  clue  course. 

I  must  here  intrude  a  word  of  explanation.  My  task  requires  that 
I  speak  frankly  of  existing  conditions;  and  were  anyone  disposed  to 
misinterpret  the  spirit  in  which  that  is  done,  personal  considerations 
and  the  reference  to  particular  men  or  institutions  might  be  read  into 
a  discussion  in  which  they  have  no  place.  I  shall  offer  no  affront  to 
any  who  may  be  interested  in  what  I  have  to  say  by  implying  any  such 
misconstruction.  The  discussion  will  be  maintained  upon  a  wholly 
objective  basis.  As  is  regarded  as  proper  in  speaking  of  the  dead,  I  shall 
refer  to  no  particular  institution  except  to  praise  it.  Yet  I  would  not 
have  it  said  that  I  am  speaking  of  imaginary  or  exaggerated  conditions, 
not  of  real  ones.  I  have  constantlv  in  mind  actual  conditions  in 
definite  institutions;  I  find  it  necessary  to  exercise  caution  not  to  refer 
to  them  so  definitely  that  their  identity  will  be  surmised.  A  deliber- 
ately cultivated  acquaintance  with  many  members  of  many  faculties, 
a  considerable  range  of  earnest  and  confidential  discussions  of  actual 
conditions  is  the  basis  of  my  observation.  My  observations  may  be 
faulty;  but  they  are  free,  they  are  honestly  acquired,  and  have  slowly 
matured.  Some  mav  be  inclined  to  consider  the  conditions  over- 
drawn, because  they  have  in  mind  the  few  most  exceptional  univer- 
sities in  which  the  spirit  of  administration  is  far  more  fayorable  than 
I  picture  it.  It  is  the  average,  not  the  exceptionally  best,  that  counts 
in  this  discussion ;  and  it  is  the  average  to  which  I  address  myself. 

Let  us  remain  a  moment  longer  with  the  bare  description  of  things 
as  they  are.  The  status  quo,  summarily  exhibited,  recites  that  the 
board  and  the  president  dispose  of  many,  most,  or  all  of  the  measures 
that  affect  in  any  decisive  manner  the  growth  and  official  welfare  of 
the  university,  and  that  affect  the  personal  and  professional  welfare 

(34) 


35 

of  the  professor.  The  board  in  framing  its  edicts  looks  to  the  presi- 
dent as  the  source  of  the  initiative;  sets  great  store  by  the  president's 
approval;  follows  his  lead  in  determining  academic  sentiment  or  uni- 
versitv  needs;  awards  medals  of  gold  or  silver  or  bronze,  or  dismisses 
with  honorable  mention  or  without  it,  in  accordance  with  his  verdicts; 
decides  what  shall  be  done  first  and  what  last  and  what  not  at  all, 
largely  according  to  his  judgment  or  preferences.  In  all  this  it  de- 
pends, as  a  rule,  wholly  upon  the  temperament  of  the  president 
whether  he  consults  or  does  not  consult  the  faculty  opinion.  His 
measures  may,  and  most  of  them  do,  go  directly  to  the  board;  they  are 
announced  by  the  president  to  the  faculty  as  final  decisions;  and  the 
faculty  is  called  upon  to  carry  out  the  decision  in  reaching  which  they 
have  had  no  part.  Officially  and  authoritatively,  the  faculty  enjoys — as 
one  is  said  to  enjoy  bad  health — painfully  restricted  rights.  Its 
members  naturally  make  their  influence  felt  through  unofficial,  mainly 
individual  prestige.  Yet  in  many  academic  autocracies,  the  president 
would  look  askance  upon  the  direct  conference  of  a  member  of  the 
faculty  with  a  member  of  the  board,  especially  to  urge  views  opposed 
to  his  own.  This  is  the  situation  stated  in  its  mildest,  most  objective 
terms.  Introduce  a  tactful,  sympathetic  personality, — and  the  even 
tenor  of  academic  life  is  likely  to  proceed  with  reasonable  serenity. 
Many  colleges,  particularly  the  smaller  ones  with  simpler  problems, 
more  unified  interests,  will  be  happily  governed  by  any  system  and 
under  such  leadership  as  they  are  likely  to  accept.  But  surround  the 
situation  with  the  actual  complexities  of  a  great  and  expanding  uni- 
versity, and  inject  into  this  relation  what  the  gods  occasionally  or 
oftener  give  unto  masterful  men, — personal  ambition,  a  secretive 
habit  of  mind,  a  protective  insensibility,  a  pseudo-diplomatic  behavior, 
and  the  love  of  power  that  seems  to  come  with  the  executive  title — 
and  you  have  a  situation  that  may  vary  from  the  ridiculously  irritat- 
ing to  the  sublimely  intolerable. 

I  am  tempted  to  refer,  though  maintaining  the  incognito  to  a 
recent  experience.  A  member  of  a  faculty  propounded  to  me  the 
attitude  of  its  president  as  a  psychological  problem.  I  was  unable  to 
give  any  enlightenment,  but  this  is  the  enlightenment  that  I  received, 
— the  result  of  a  careful  inductive  study.  (1)  Whenever  President  X 
announced  to  his  surprised  faculty  that  the  hoard  had  adopted  such 
and  such  a  measure,  it  proved  to  mean  that  the  president  had  pro- 
posed the  measure  to  the  wholly  innocent  board,  and  that  it  was  a 
measure  that  the  faculty,  were  it  given  a  chance,  would  have  cordially 
opposed.  (2)  When  a  measure  was  "up"  before  the  faculty,  and 
opposition  unexpectedly  developed,  an  announcement  was  made  by 
President  X  that  there  were  reasons,  which  unfortunately  he  could 
not  disclose,  that  really  made  the  measure  necessary — and  this  meant 
that  if  not  approved  by  the  faculty,  the  board  would  take  the  proposed 

(35j 


36 

step  anyway.  There  were  two  other  types  of  situations  that  entered 
into  this  psychological  analysis;  but  they  are  too  individual  to  make 
it  proper  to  cite  them. 

The  academic  comment  that  occasionally  reaches  the  college 
president's  ears  to  the  effect  that  his  troubles  are  largely  of  his  own 
making,  is  intended  to  remind  him  that  he  encourages,  or  complacently 
accepts — does  not,  at  all  events,  protest  against  and  strive  for  the 
abolition  of — the  conditions  out  of  which  troubles  naturally  grow. 
When  the  presidential  policy — or  better  the  university  policy — shall 
favor  the  settlement  of  intrinsically  educational  questions  by  the 
faculty  and  not  for  the  faculty,  the  president's  lot  will  be  a  happier 
one:  The  principle  that  the  essential  questions,  the  critically  forma- 
tive and  expanding  measures,  the  issues  that  make  or  mar  the  aca- 
demic career  shall  be  shaped  by  faculty  consideration,  equally  de- 
mands that  they  shall  not  be  authoritatively  or  virtually  disposed  of 
either  by  the  board  or  by  the  president.  As  to  the  actual  business  of 
the  faculty,  it  is  a  rather  dreary  tale.  Details,  routine,  student 
affairs,  occasionally  a  real  issue  that  somehow  reaches  that  body,  but 
in  regard  to  which  they  can  act  only  conditionally,  not  authoritatively 
— such  is  the  situation  that  naturally  encourages  inconsequential  talk, 
inefficient  deliberation,  restrained  initiative.  It  is  nothing  short  of 
absurd  to  withdraw  from  faculty  discussion  all  the  real  educational 
issues,  and  expect  a  company  of  scholarly  men  to  grow  enthusiastic 
over  the  privilege  of  wearily  debating  how  a  sophomoric  attempt  to 
vault  over  or  climb  around  the  regulations  shall  be  thwarted,  or 
whether  the  Mandolin  Club  both  played  and  behaved  so  badly  upon 
its  last  venture,  that  its  leading  strings  should  profitably  be  shortened. 
One  can  comfortably  resign  oneself  to  picking  the  bones  when  one  has 
dined  off  the  fowl;  but  to  have  the  bird  presented  after  it  has  been 
shorn  of  its  attractions  at  the  first  table  makes  a  sorry  feast. 

At  this  stage  we  inust  examine  with  the  practical  purpose  of  this 
discussion,  the  types  of  questions  and  interests  that  require  considera- 
tion in  universitv  affairs.  There  is  first  the  appointment  of  the  in-' 
structional  staff.  In  this  respect  enlightened  opinion  has  accomplished 
a  notable  success.  In  the  best  type  of  universities,  those  most  closely 
concerned  have  adequate  means  of  making  their  opinion  effective; 
the  president  and  the  board  take  those  executive  and  formal 
steps  that  lead  to  the  election  of  the  candidate  and  adjudicate 
where  some  final  authority  must  assume  responsibility.  Where 
this  is  not  the  case,  the  tendency  is  at  least  favorable  to  such  a  consum- 
mation; though  abuses  of  privilege  are  by  no  means  obsolete.  Yet 
the  fact  that  this  phase  of  the  situation  has  approached  a  most  com- 
mendable status  should  be  as  frankly  emphasized  as  other  less  satis- 
factory phases  should  be  frankly  condemned.  In  principle  many 
prefer  the  practice  of  Yale  University,  in  which  such  nominations  are 

(36)    . 


37 

presented  for  the  approval  of  the  faculty.  With  the  proper  spirit, 
the  essential  ends  are  accomplished  by  either  procedure. 

When  we  come,  secondly,  to  the  matter  of  promotions  and  salaries, 
the  situation  acquires  a  sombre  cast.  In  some  few  institutions  the 
methods,  though  not  perfectly  so,  are  commendable,  in  many  others 
moderately  perverse,  in  the  rest  intolerable.  Merely  because  that  is 
another  story,  (yet  a  closely  related  one),  do  I  reluctantly  pass  by  the 
burning  question  of  the  inadequacy  of  professors'  incomes.  I  content 
mvself  with  the  expression  that  were  those  salaries  as  nearly  adequate 
as  thev  could  readily  become  were  sentiment  properly  effective,  cer- 
tain of  the  administrative  problems  would  find  readier  solution ;  yet 
in  saying  this  I  wish  also  to  emphasize  the  converse:  that  were  our 
administrative  provisions  more  suitable,  the  professors'  financial 
status  would  ha\"e  been  far  more  favorable  than  it  now  is — and  of  this 
more  anon.  That  there  obtain  widely  different  opinions  as  to  what 
a  professor  should  be  paid  is  inevitable;  that  there  should  prevail 
such  general  misconception  as  to  what  influences  should  determine 
his  compensation,  is  not  inevitable,  only  unfortunate.  This  text,  also, 
I  must  not  allow  myself  to  elaborate,  though  there  is  strong  tempta- 
tion to  do  so. 

As  an  administrative  policy,  the  salary  problems  should  be  and  in 
large  measure  can  be  solved  by  preventing  them  from  arising.  Policy 
is  here  all  important.  With  many  others,  I  hold  as  desirable  above 
all  other  arrangements,  an  effective  provision  that  shall  pledge  a 
definite  and  dependable  living  for  worthy  service.  This  would  go 
far  toward  avoiding  the  constant  and  irritating  perplexities  that  from 
time  to  time,  and  in  some  institutions  at  the  close  of  each  academic 
year,  present  themselves  with  threatening  features  to  be  somehow 
appeased.  A  system  of  this  general  type  is  well  established  at  Har- 
vard University.  What  I  emphasize  as  essential  therein  is  that  men 
are  elected  to  positions  of  definite  rank,  for  definite  periods,  with 
definite  understandings.  The  central  issue  that  is  to  be  determined 
at  the  close  of  the  period  is  whether  the  university  desires  to  retain 
the  services  of  the  occupant;  if  so,  he  steps  to  the  next  grade  with 
constantly  increasing  salary.  A  normal  line  of  advancement  is  thus 
provided.  More  rapid  promotion  is  always  open  to  promptly  estab- 
lished worth  and  efificiency,  and  should  indeed  be  the  rule,  not  the 
exception.  Such  measures  of  elasticity  the  system  designedly  retains. 
There  is  always  opportunity  for  any  one  to  present  such  considerations 
as  may  be  proper,  and  to  reenforce  them  by  such  arguments  as  may 
be  suitable,  to  urge  the  promotion  at  such  time  and  in  such  degree  as 
the  circumstances  warrant.'  Speaking  generally  for  all  whose  fitness 
for  the  academic  life  has  been  established,  the  question  of  salary  is  as 
nearly  as  possible  disposed,  of ;  and  advancement  is  secure.  Such  a 
system  represents  about  as  practicable  a  compromise  between  ideal 

(37) 


38 

and  available  measures  as  present  circumstances  permit.  It  has  at 
all  events  the  supreme  advantage  of  minimizing,  and,  in  a  fortunate 
environment,  of  avoiding  wholly  the  endless  disaffections  and  positive 
injuries  that  are  inevitable  when  such  matters  depend  wholly  upon 
the  decision  of  one  or  two  men,  whose  natural  ambition  under  present 
circumstances  is  only  too  likely  to  regard  the  salary  item  in  the  budget 
as  the  one  that  admittedly  should  be  first,  but  is  likely  to  come  last. 
The  administrative  feeling  creeps  in  or  is  openly  defended  that  so  long 
as  places  can  be  filled,  salaries  are  not  the  first  consideration.  It  is 
this  phase  of  the  presidential  activity  that  estranges  him  from  col- 
leagueship  with  his  faculty. 

How  far  down  in  the  academic  scale  this  system  is  applicable  can- 
not be  determined  off-hand.  Yet  in  the  spirit  of  an  institution  in 
which  such  a  system  is  liberally  administered,  it  should  be  easy  to 
place  the  greatest  emphasis  upon  offering  to  the  men  of  promise  in 
the  on-coming  generation  the  utmost  encouragement  to  rise  rapidl}''  in 
their  profession;  and  to  do  this  as  is  done  in  all  learned  professions, 
by  the  judgment  of  their  peers  with  reference  to  true  academic  stand- 
ards. The  point  is  important  as  indicating  how  one  set  of  administra- 
tive measures  largely  avoids  difficult  and  undesirable  situations,  that 
another  deliberately  invites.  It  is  important  that  a  living  within  the 
academic  fold  should  not  be  regarded  as  a  reward  to  be  given  to  the 
exceptionally  deserving  when  circumstances  indicate  that  the  only 
method  of  retaining  their  services  is  to  yield  what  for  years  has  been 
unwisely  and  unjustly  withheld,  but  is  to  be  regarded  as  a  natural 
privilege  for  all  worthy  of  the  academic  life.  There  is  not  the  slightest 
discrepancy  in  the  inevitable  fact  that  A  and  B,  men  of  quite  unequal 
merit  and  value  to  their  institutions,  should  be  enjoying  the  same 
incomes.  There  is  nothing  in  the  slighest  degree  disconcerting  in  so  in- 
evitable a  consequence  of  human  variability ;  and  in  a  less  commercially 
minded  community,  no  one  would  think  of  remarking  upon  so  obvious 
a  situation.  A  man's  academic  worth  should  not  and  cannot  in  the 
least  be  measured  by  his  salary;  and  any  attempt  to  do  so  is  a  deep 
injury  to  the  profession.  If  some  one  has  made  a  mistake  in  judgment 
in  asking  a  wrong  man  to  fill  a  chair,  when  better  men  are  available, 
and  if  the  mistake  cannot  be  remedied  without  repudiating  obligations 
already  incurred,  it  is  far  better  to  seek  any  solution  of  the  situation 
than  the  one  that  sets  the  emphasis  upon  the  very  point  that  has  no 
place  in  the  academic  life.  Endowed  professorships  ensuring  adequate 
livings  are  for  this  reason  far  more  ideal  a  system  than  American 
circumstances  make  practicable. 

.  I  have  thus  dwelt  upon  the  more  serious  of  the  unfortunate  conse- 
quences of  the  dominant  systemless  practices  in  American  institutions, 
and  of  the  possibilities  of  their  correction.-  It  is  even  more  than  a 
misfortune ;  it  is  indeed  an  indignity  that  a  scholar  of  tried  worth  and 

(38) 


39 

reputation — one  who  in  another  country  would  be  an  homme  arrive, 
with  a  secure  hving — should  still  find  the  very  wherewithal  of  his 
sustenance,  and  the  appraisal  of  his  rank  meted  out  to  him  by  the 
uncertain  esteem  of  one  or  two  of  his  colleagues — for  such  the  president 
and  the  dean  are — placed  in  a  position  of  authority  by  reason  of 
qualities  unrelated  to  any  such  Jupiterian  function.  His  helplessness 
in  a  situation,  for  which  inadequate  administration  or  administrative 
autocracv.  has  left  no  place  for  remedy,  hardly  even  for  protest,  may 
well  invite  despair. 

The  disastrous  consequences  of  this  unfortunate  situation  appear 
most  notablv  in  the  discordant  notes  that  break  into  what  remains  of 
the  cherished  harmony  of  the  academic  spirit;  and  it  appears  in  the 
loss  of  appeal  of  the  academic  career  to  those  best  fitted  by  endow- 
ments.and  interests  to  enter  its  ranks.  The  drift  within  the  university 
is  toward  winning  those  marks  of  success  upon  which  administrative 
dominance  sets  greatest  store.  Colleges  engage  in  what  the  press  is 
pleased  to  call  a  friendly  rivalry  to  secure  the  largest  crop  of  freshmen ; 
and  undue  influences  are  set  at  work  upon  departments  and  professors 
to  attract  large  classes.  Facilitation  of  administrative  measures  and 
some  practical  executive  efifiiciency  are  far  more  apt  to  meet  with 
tangible  rewards  than  are  more  academic  talents.  It  takes  a  sturdy 
determination,  a  sterling  character  and  a  large  measure  of  actual  sac- 
rifice to  withstand  this  manifold  pressure.  Those  who  resist  it  least, 
or  are  least  sensiti\-e  to  anything  to  be  resisted,  are  likely  to  find  them- 
selves in  the  more  prominent  places ;  and  so  the  unfortunate  emphasis 
gathers  strength  by  its  own  headway.  The  esprit  of  academic  inter- 
course, the  inspiration  of  individual  character,  the  stamp  of  the  domi- 
nant occupation,  subtly  yet  inevitably  lose  their  finer  qualities.  There 
comes  to  be  developed  a  type  of  academician  (sit  venia  verbo)  who 
pursues  his  career  in  a  decided  "business"  frame  of  mind.  At  the 
worst,  he  degenerates  into  a  professional  commis,  keen  for  the  main 
chance,  ready  to  advertise  his  wares  and  advance  his  trade,  eager  for 
new  markets,  a  devotee  of  statistically  measured  success.  At  the  best, 
he  loses  with  advancing  years  that  mellow  ripening  of  the  scholar,  lays 
aside  all  too  willingly  the  protecting  aegis  of  his  ideals  and  his  enthu- 
siasm, and  fails  to  maintain  in  his  activity  the  very  vital  quality  that 
appreciative  students  should,  and  commonly  do  look  upon,  and  look 
back  upon,  as  the  choicest  advantage  of  their  academic  intercourse. 

If  any  one  consequence  of  this  serious  situation  may  be  rated  more 
serious  than  the  rest,  it  is  the  effect  of  it  all  upon  the  younger  members 
of  the  instructional  staff  during  the  most  valued  portions  of  their  lives. 
A  Teutonic  student  of  our  educational  situation  recently  pointed  out 
to  me  this  disastrous  phase  of  our  unadjusted  university  arrangements 
as  the  most  potent  reason  for  our  unproductiveness  in  original  effort 
and  the  chief  obstacle  to  our  cultural  advance.     He  contrasted  the 

(39) 


40 

situation  with  that  of  the  Privat-Docent,  who,  though  with  most  pre- 
carious income,  found  no  hindrance,  when  once  launched  upon  aca- 
demic seas,  to  shaping  his  career  according  to  his  talents,  in  steering 
for  such  ports  and  by  such  routes  as  his  survey  of  the  chart  directed. 
That  intense  and  crippling  sense  of  accountability — to  which  President 
Pritchett  has  likewise  directed  attention — is  all  but  absent  from  the 
Privat-Docenfs  career,  as  it  is  likely  to.  crowd  out  by  its  insistent 
demands  almost  every  other  serious  purpose  of  the  young  instructor. 
Confessedly  the  advantages  are  hot  all  on  one  side ;  but  the  unnecessary 
hazards  placed  in  the  way  of  the  academic  aspirant  among  us,  make 
the  academic  career  partake  altogether  too  largely  of  the  nature  of  an 
obstacle  race. 

I  am  aware  that  the  objection  may  arise  to  the  sombre  tones  of  my 
palette,  that  will  protest  that  such  a  delineation  is  the  natural  result 
of  viewing  things  through  a  murky  atmosphere  or  through  congenitally 
disposed  obliquities  of  vision.  The  delusion  is,  however,  a  rather 
general  one ;  the  difficulty  is  only  that  it  does  not  find  public  expression. 
It  is  in  the  confidential  talk  with  others  of  kindred  spirit  and  experience 
that  a  man's  real  opinions  come  to  the  fore.  The  front  that  he  shows 
to  the  world — and  that  without  any  fair  charge  of  hypocrisy — is 
wholly  different  from  his  private  opinion  for  home  consumj^tion  only. 
I  have  in  mind  a  professor  of  national  reputation,  with  a  quarter- 
century  of  successful  experience  in  distinguished  institutions  of  the 
land,  with  many  honors  to  his  name  and  many  public  addresses  to 
his  credit  extolling  the  successes  of  American  education.  This  scholar 
had  no  hesitation  in  admitting  to  me  confidentially  that  in  any  true 
sense  we  had  no  universities  in  this  country,  and  certainly  no  aca- 
demic life;  and  that  in  his  own  career  a  larger  measure  of  his  success 
than  he  cared  to  reflect  upon,  was  probably  due  to  his  yielding  to  in- 
fluences that  his  ideals  condemned.  With  not  the  slightest  breach  of 
honesty  in  his  purpose  as  conceived  by  approved  standards,  but  with 
the  inevitable  compromise  to  practical  necessities,  his  career  had 
deviated  from  what  under  more  favorable  conditions  it  might  well 
have  been.  Such  a  man  is  not  to  be  censured;  he  is  the  victim  of  an 
unfortunate  situation;  and  it  is  only  because  such  situations  may  in 
large  measure  be  relieved  by  a  proper  administrative  temper,  that  it 
becomes  proper  to  cite  the  instance  in  this  connection. 

It  is  well  to  return  to  the  practical  aspect  of  the  situation.  What 
the  average  university  presents  in  lieu  of  an  academic  provision  is 
little  more  than  a  corporation  of  an  industrial  type  in  which  groups  of 
men  have  been  engaged  to  perform  given  tasks.  The  tasks  are  often 
liberally  conceived,  and  personal  worth  properly  regarded.  Yet  the 
temper  is  such  that  commercial  considerations  enter ;  and  the  tendency 
is  rarely  absent  that  makes  the  first  duty  of  the  management  that  of 
securing  the  work  done  upon  the  most  economical  basis  possible.     The 

(40) 


41 

irrelevancy  of  this  attitude  is  too  complex  a  tale  to  attempt  to  disen- 
tangle here.  Ideals  and  policy  must  come  first;  and  practice  can  only 
be  worthy  when  the  motiye  force  of  such  ideals  can  find  expression. 
With  the  absence  or  the  weakness  of  worthy  ideals,  lower  ideals  in- 
evitably enter.  In  the  present  consideration  it  may  be  emphasized 
that  a  university  can  be  built  up  about  a  group  of  professorships  and 
abovit  nothing  else.  Academic  benefactors  will  not  have  accomplished 
their  highest  degree  of  efficiency  until  they  recognize  in  such  endow- 
ments the  most  intrinsically  valuable  form  of  aiding  universities. 
Whatever  hastens  the  day  of  liberally  provided  professorships  will 
ennoble  and  simplify  the  administrative  problems  of  universities. 

A  further  class  of  administrative  measures  relate  to  the  direction 
of  university  growth,  the  nature  of  its  extensions,  the  distinctive 
character  of  its  purposes,  its  mode  of  meeting  public  needs.  These 
questions  are  far  more  pressing  in  so  rapidly  a  developing  community 
as  ours  than  they  are  in  older  civilizations  in  which  the  purposes  of 
tmiversity  activity  have  become  fixed  by  convention.  It  is  in  regard 
to  this  set  of  measures  that  the  initiative  is  so  commonly  taken  by  the 
president  alone;  and  it  is  precisely  with  regard  to  these  that  the  prin- 
ciples to  which  I  adhere  favor  and  demand  a  vital  and  authoritative 
consideration  on  the  part  of  the  faculty.  It  is  because  a  portion  of 
these  measures  must  be  determined  by  the  provisions  of  the  budget 
that  to  some  extent  the  budget  itself  must  be  included  in  this  group. 
As  it  is,  faculty  opinion  has  in  most  institutions  no  opportunity  to 
express  itself  in  regard  to  that  which  concerns  the  faculty  most 
intimately.  Upon  this  aspect  of  the  matter  I  have  touched  in  the 
general  statement. 

There  is  finally  a  group  of  minor  administrative  details,  also  in- 
volving financial  matters,  which  intimately  concern  the  academic 
activities.  I  refer  to'such  matters  as  modes  of  conducting  laboratories,  of 
securing  material  and  all  the  inevitable  business  of  handling  apparattis, 
and  the  house-keeping  side  of  instructional  and  investigative  work. 
This  is  clearly  partly  a  business  matter,  and  as  such  belongs  to  the 
board,  but  likewise  is  it  in  equal  part,  a  matter  that  affects  the  effic- 
iency of  the  laboratory  and  its  work.  The  contention  thus  seems 
just  that  some  mode  of  administration  shall  be  devised  which  shall  be 
as  satisfactory  to  the  director  of  the  laboratory  in  the  matter  of  meet- 
ing his  needs,  as  it  shall  be  to  the  administration  as  business  procedure. 
This,  as  many  another  question,  is  one  that  concerns  jointly  these 
two  coordinating  parts  of  university  administration;  and  can  be  met 
only  by  joint  consideration. 

And  now  let  us  bring  these  \'arious  considerations  into  mutual 
relation.  The  system  that  so  generally  prevails  and  whose  deficiencies 
detract  from  the  value  of  the  academic  career  may  be  called  "govern- 
ment by  imposition."     Possibly  this  is  a  harsh  word,  but  to  the  pro- 

(41) 


42 

fessor  who  is  obliged  to  pursue  his  calHng  under  it,  the  measures  which 
it  enforces  are  often  harsh  measures.  The  system  which  is  advocated 
to  replace  it  may  in  like  brevity  be  termed  "government  by  coopera- 
tion,"  with  the  explicit  interpretation  that  the  government  is  by  the 
faculty  and  the  cooperation  the  function  of  the  administrative  officers, 
including  the  president  and  the  board.  The  management  of  the 
university's  material  affairs  advantageously  falls  to  the  board,  and 
what  shall  be  included  under  this  head  is  not  likely  to  be  a  serious 
point  of  contention,  if  once  it  be  admitted  that  many  material  pro- 
visions directly  influence  the  work  of  the  faculty,  and  that  for  such 
the  faculty  shall  have  a  voice  in  determining  how  these  material 
affairs  shall  be  administered.  Assent  must  be  gained  for  the  view 
that  the  faculty  is  quite  capable  of  determining  whether  the  needs  of 
the  institution  make  it  preferable  to  administer  certain  details  them- 
selves or  have  them  otherwise  regulated.  So  long  as  measures  are  not 
imposed  but  are  the  issue  of  deliberation  of  both  bodies  acting  co- 
operatively, concord  and  progress  are  assured.  For  the  most  part  the 
material  administration  may  well  remain  where  it  is  now  placed;  but 
the  right  of  discussion,  of  opinion,  and  of  protest  should  be  freely 
exercised.  Even  with  similar  measures,  the  spirit  of  the  adminis- 
tration and  the  dignity  and  security  of  the  academic  career,  would  be 
wholly  different  under  the  two  systems. 

To  what  measure  the  present  system  of  administration  is  due  to 
the  irrelevant  transfer  of  methods  suited  to  a  business  corporation,  to 
institutions  flourishing  under  conditions  of  wholly  opposed  character, 
I  cannot  stop  to  discuss.  Many  critics  find  in  this  perverse  applica- 
tion of  glorified  business  procedure  the  source  of  academic  inadequacy ; 
others  count  it  as  but  one  of  several  influences,  and  not  the  chief. 
What  is  unmistakable  is  the  pernicious  dominance  of  the  business 
spirit  both  in  the  administration  and  in  the  academic  interests.  I 
prefer  to  speak  of  the  internal  influences  as  more  closely  allied  to  my 
theme.  There  is  at  work  among  American  universities  a  spirit  of 
intense  rivalry,  a  desire  for  each  to  measure  its  own  work  by  standards 
of  tangible  material  success.  College  presidents  like  to  be  remem- 
bered by  the  buildings,  which  were  erected  through  their  initiative, 
by  the  departments  which  have  been  added,  and  the  enrollment  which 
has  been  increased.  It  is  by  urging  these  needs  and  presenting  these 
successes  that  funds  are  secured.  If  such  were  really  the  standard 
by  which  educational  ends  are  to  be  appraised,  then  the  business 
methods  might  well  be  adapted  to  the  university  affairs.  It  is  against 
this  false  standard  that  the  warfare  must  be  actively  directed.  It 
would  undoubtedly  be  the  most  beneficial  fate  that  could  happen  to 
many  of  our  universities  to-day  if  for  a  considerable  period  they  built 
no  new  buildings,  added  no  neW departments,  found  their  enrollment 
gradually  decreasing  and  centered  all  their  energies  upon  the  internal 

(42) 


43 

elevation  of  true  university  ends,  upon  providing  for  the  student  and 
professor  alike  the  intellectual  environmet  in  which  those  interests 
thrive  for  which  the  student  and  professor  come  together,  by  which 
the  academic  ideal  is  inspired. 

The  same  spirit  is  felt  throughout  every  detail  of  universit^^  life, 
from  athletics  up  or  down  as  our  standards  may  be.  It  tempts  the 
professor  to  spend  his  energies  in  securing  large  classes ;  it  sets  depart- 
ments to  devising  means  to  outrank  in  numbers  the  devotees  of  other 
departments;  it  makes  the  student  feel  that  he  is  conferring  a  favor 
upon  the  university  by  coming,  and  then  upon  the  professor  by  choos- 
ing his  classes;  it  leads  the  administration  to  value  the  professor's 
service  by  his  talents  in  these  directions,  to  appraise  executive  work, 
at  least  financially,  far  more  highly  than  professional  service;  and, 
worst  of  all,  it  contaminates  the  academic  atmosphere  so  that  all  life 
and  inspiration  go  out  of  it,  or  would,  if  the  professor's  ideals  did  not 
serve  as  a  protecting  aegis  to  resist,  often  with  much  personal  sacrifice, 
these  untoward  influences. 

In  bringing  these  considerations  to  a  close  I  must  first  defend  my 
position  against  certain  objections  that  are  apparent,  and  then  focus 
the  discussion  upon  the  remedial  aspect  of  the  situation.  I  am  confi- 
dent that  I  do  not  undervalue  services  that  have  been  done  for  Ameri- 
can education  by  the  very  types  of  administration  against  which  I 
protest.  A  strong  case  may  be  made  out  for  the  opinion  that  for  the 
work  that  had  to  be  done  and  the  conditions  that  obtained,  it  was  the 
only  method  available  and  a  good  one.  My  face  is  turned  to  the  fu- 
ture; and  the  recognition  of  past  achievment  and  fitness  is  no  token 
of  increasing  service  under  more  developed  conditions.  The  general 
advantages  of  the  presidential  form  of  government  are  equally  obvious. 
The  cause  and  the  strength — I  cannot  bring  myself  to  say  the  justi- 
fication— of  the  conditions  which  with  so  many  others  I  deplore,  are 
not  far  to  seek.  Those  who  defend  present  academic  arrangements 
bring  forward  pertinent  considerations,  to  which  any  one  approaching 
the  issues  in  a  practical  temper  will  give  due  weight.  The  advantages 
of  centralized  power  will  not  lightly  be  set  aside;  nor  is  there  any 
reason  for  losing  the  most  essential  of  them  in  such  reconstruction  as 
is  needed  to  rehabilitate  the  academic  career.  We  need  not  repeat  the 
common  educational  mistake,  so  neatly  pictured  in  the  German  phrase 
of  tumbling  out  the  child  with  the  bath.  Wisdom  as  well  as  sanity 
is  the  name  for  a  certain  perspective  of  values.  In  company  with 
those  who  share  the  attitude  of  my  protest,  I  am  keenly  sensitive  to 
the  obligations  that  our  educational  welfare  has  incurred  to  the  very 
offices  whose  policy  and  activity  I  cite  as  but  slightly  commendable. 

I  am  calling  attention  to  the  fact  that  these  pearls  of  price  will 
have  been  too  dearly  bought,  if  they  lead  to  the  deterioration  of  the 
academic  career  through  loss  of  dignity  and  attractiveness  to  those  to 

(43) 


44 

whom  they  should  make  the  worthiest  appeal.  The  very  qualities 
upon  which  emphasis  is  laid  brings  types  of  men  into  high  office  and 
into  the  academic  chairs  who  have  not  within  them  the  possibilities  that 
contribute  to  the  inspiration  of  the  institution  of  which  they  become 
an  organic  part.  Confining  the  issue  to  the  administrative  aspect 
onlv,  I  am  content  to  repeat  the  comment  of  one  of  the  speakers  of 
this  conference,  whose  point  of  view  is  hardly  likely  to  be  regarded  as 
prejudiced.  He  tells  us  that  "young  men  of  power  and  ambition  scorn 
what  should  be  reckoned  the  noblest  of  professions,  not  because  that 
profession  condemns  them  to  poverty,  but  because  it  dooms  them  to 
a  sort  of  servitude."  And  as  a  forecast  of  the  future  in  the  light  of 
the  present,  this:  "Unless  American  college  teachers  can  be  assured 
*  *  *  that  they  are  no  longer  to  be  looked  upon  as  mere  employees 
paid  to  do  the  bidding  of  men  who,  however  courteous  or  however 
eminent,  have  not  the  faculty's  professional  knowledge  of  the  compli- 
cated problems  of  education,  our  universities  will  suffer  increasingly 
from  a  dearth  of  strong  men,  and  teaching  will  remain  outside  the 
pale  of  the  really  learned  professions.  *  *  *  The  problem  is  not 
one  of  wages;  for  no  university  can  become  rich  enough  to  buy  the 
independence  of  any  man  who  is  really  worth  purchasing." 

A  situation  that  calls  forth  such  earnest,  disinterested  protest 
cannot  but  be  sombre  in  tone.  Yet  I  am  anxious  to  reveal  the  touch 
of  optimism  that  makes  the  world  akin,  and  record  that  the  brighter 
colors  have  as  legitimate  a  place  in  academic  portraiture  as  my  en- 
forced selection  for  this  occasion  of  the  neutral  and  darker  grays. 
The  compensations  of  the  academic  life  are  real  enough;  they  simply 
form,  like  much  else  that  I  have  omitted,  another  story.  I  should  be 
sorry  to  have  it  inferred  that  a  happy  academician  must  be  sought  by 
the  despairing  light  of  a  Diogenes  lantern;  though  I  have  implied  that 
in  one's  less  hopeful  moods,  the  lamp  of  learning  seems  a  precarious 
illumination  amid  the  blinding  incandescence  of  the  rival  interests  of 
our  intensely  modern  life.  The  devotion  to  the  purer,  more  sensitive 
flame  is  in  fact  endangered;  and  those  whose  responsibility  and  con- 
solation it  is  to  hand  it  on  to  others  with  undiminished  ardor,  have 
cause  to  feel  that  their  vocation  is  shorn  of  favoring  fortune,  is  beset 
by  lack  of  power  to  order  their  lives  by  appropriate  standards,  is 
embarrassed  by  needless  and  remediable  adversities. 

I  must  also  forestall  the  deduction  which  would  be  quite  wide  of 
my  purpose,  that  I  am  in  any  sense  advocating  the  abolition  of  presi- 
dencies and  boards,  and  am  proposing  measures  far  too  radical  to  be 
practicable.  On  the  contrary,  I  concede  that  the  present  mode  of 
administration  if  it  can  be  freed — as  there  is  good  reason  to  believe  it 
can — from  the  spirit  of  its  practice  that  now  seems  dominant,  is  a 
very  efficient  and  commendable  method  of  accomplishing  a  purpose 
which  from  the  outset  has  been  set  forth  as  a  subsidiary  means  to  an 

(44) 


45 

end.  If  it  furthers  that  end,  it  would  in  my  judgment  hardly  be  worth 
while  to  change  it  even  if  that  were  readily  possible.  If  the  present 
spirit  of  administration  is  the  inevitable  result  of  the  present  method, 
then  the  method  cannot  be  commended,  however  modified.  Here 
the  ways  divide;  and  the  judgment  of  expediency  has  a  more  com- 
manding voice,  which  it  sl:ould  not  raise,  however,  in  defiance  of 
principle. 

It  would  be  possible  to  frame  an  academic  decalogue,  the  obedience 
to  which,  though  it  would  not  ensure  the  realization  of  all  the  ideals 
would  guard  against  the  more  obvious  transgressions.  I  shall  con- 
tent myself  with  suggesting  but  two  of  the  provisions.  The  first  is  the 
introduction  of  a  definite  system  of  salaries  with  such  liberality  as  may 
be  possible,  that  provides  for  promotions  and  increases,  and  estab- 
lishes the  academic  applicant  upon  a  definite  footing.  This  measure 
is  not  proposed  as  a  panacea,  and  can  at  best  be  but  negatively  effect- 
ive. Yet  it  has  great  positive  value  under  present  circumstances, 
for  the  reason  that  only  when  this  phase  of  the  matter  is  disposed  of, 
is  it  possible  satisfactorily  to  consider  other  weighty  issues.  It  is 
most  unfortunate  that  this  financial  aspect  must  be  placed  so  promi- 
nently in  present  discussions;  for  such  prominence  but  enforces  the 
inadequacy  of  the  academic  situation.  It  would  however  be  foolish 
to  disregard  this  irritating  stumbling-block,  which  must  be  removed 
if  academic  freedom  is  to  be  maintained.  The  professor  desires  money 
in  order  that  money  considerations  may  not  enter  disturbingly  into 
his  life;  and  universities  should  once  for  all  determine  matters  of 
salary,  in  order  that  their  energies  may  be  more  profitablv  expended. 

The  second  provision  is  that  no  measure  shall  be  decided  bv  the 
president  or  the  board  without  giving  the  faculty  an  opportunity  to  de- 
cide whether  it  cares  to  express  itself  upon  that  measure  or  not.  Such 
provision  inevitably  carries  with  it  the  right  to  have  a  share  in  deciding 
in  the  first  place  what  division  of  questions  shall  be  made  between 
faculty  and  board.  To  accomplish  this  end,  an  advisory  committee 
of  the  faculty  seems  an  efficient  means.  Such  committee  should 
decide  in  each  case  whether  and  how  far  questions  should  be  con- 
sidered by  the  faculty;  and  naturally  the  president,  as  a  member  of 
such  committee,  will  bring  before  it  first  and  for  approval  all  measures 
that  he  regards  as  worthy  of  the  attention  of  the  board.  An  ar- 
rangement of  this  type  is  in  force  in  Leland  Stanford  University. 
With  slight  change  in  the  apportionment  of  the  present  authority, 
such  a  measure  will  be  adequate  to  bring  to  the  faculty  a  voice  on  all 
questions  upon  which,  in  its  own  judgment,  its  expression  of  opinion 
would  be  for  the  best  interests  of  the  university.  Such  committee 
would  attend  the  meetings  of  the  board  and  participate  in  its  dis- 
cussions, though  without  right  of  vote.  The  president  would  serve 
as  the  formal  spokesman  of  faculty  influence,  and  could  then  be,  what 

■i  (45) 


46 

it  should  be  his  highest  ambition  to  be,  the  leader,  not  the  governor, 
of  the  faculty  and  a  defender  of  the  academic  life. 

I  have  no  desire  to  lay  minute  stress  upon  particular  remedies, 
which  must  always  take  their  shape  from  local  conditions,  though  in 
still  larger  measure  must  they  be  framed  by  ideals  and  purposes,  that 
are  much  the  same  wherever  the  academic  spirit  is  cherished.  I 
desire  only  to  remove  the  objection  that  practical  measures  to  remove 
difficulties  cannot  be  readily  devised.  I  know  very  well  that  changes 
of  ideals  and  purposes  must  first  inspire  confidence  and  enthusiasm 
before  they  reach  practical  possibilities;  but  I  am  encouraged  by  the 
example  of  so  many  other  educational  and  national  evils,  that  once 
clearly  recognized,  have  in  astonishingly  brief  time  been  swept  aw^ay 
by  the  strenuous  purpose  of  the  national  temper.  It  is  in  such  a 
movement  that  the  present  discussion  would  find  the  most  desirable 
consummation. 

I  am  fully  aware  that  no  such  administrative  reform  is  to  be 
looked  for  until  the  ambitions  that  universities  and  particularly  their 
presidents  cherish,  are  considerably  altered.  When  internal  culture 
measures  are  acknowledged  to  be  the  leading  issues  of  the  academic 
life,  it  will  fall  more  and  more  to  the  faculty  to  carry  them  out;  there 
will  be  less  and  less  need  of  the  present  type  of  president,  less  tempta- 
tion to  develop  the  office  primarily  for  those  functions  which  it  now 
serves.  The  type  of  individual  that  will  then  be  sought  for  the  posi- 
tion will  be  selected  by  a  different  perspective  of  considerations;  and 
the  academic  career  will  have  greater  promise  of  reaching  a  worthier 
status  than  it  now  occupies.  First,  as  last,  it  is  directly  through 
ideals  and  indirectly  through  administrative  provisions  that  further 
ideals,  that  the  welfare  of  academic  concerns  is  determined. 


DISCUSSION 

By  President  J.  W.  Mauck,  LL.D. 
President  of  Hillsdale  College 

It  has  never  been  my  privilege  to  be  associated  actively  as  pro- 
fessor or  as  president  of  a  large  institution.  I  have  never  known  the 
type  of  president  that  has  been  described  here,  yesterday  and  the  day 
before,  and  to  some  extent,  this  morning. 

This  is  not  a  criticism  upon  the  paper  read  this  morning,  because 
I  am  in  thorough  sympathy  with  it,  so  far  as  I  understand  it.  It  is  a 
clear  paper,  but  it  is  prepared  from  the  standpoint  of  a  large  university, 
and  I  cannot  present  views  upon  the  justice  of  the  statements.  A 
president  such  as  described  in  one  of  the  papers  on  Tuesday  is  one  that 
I  did  not  know  existed.  He  would  be  the  personification  of  that 
beautiful  injunction  of  the  Scriptures — "Be  ye  therefore  perfect,  even 
as  your  Father,  which  is  in  Heaven,  is  perfect."  I  do  not  believe  that 
type  of  man  is  to  be  found.     There  will  be  weaknesses  in  all  men, 

(46) 


47 

involving  failure  at  some  point.  I  apprehend  that  a  president  of  the 
kind  described  is  influenced  in  his  decisions  and  administration  a  great 
deal  more  bv  the  views  of  his  colleagues  than  the  public  generally 
understands.  In  a  small  way  I  have  known  college  professors  and 
presidents  and  boards  of  trustees,  who  are  a  type  very  wddely  differ- 
ent from  that  we  have  been  considering  for  the  last  two  days.  I  am 
speaking  from  my  own  personal  experience  in  a  small  university,  and 
one  denominational  college.  I  have  never  known  in  either  one  of 
these  institutions  an  instance  in  which  the  president  did  not  carefully 
and  patiently  consult  members  of  the  faculty.  I  believe  it  is  quite 
commonly  true,  at  least  in  smaller  institutions,  and  I  suppose  to  an 
extent  in  the  larger  institutions,  that  appropriations  for  departments 
are  left  largely  to  the  discretion  of  the  president,  as  advised  by  the 
faculty. 

I  have  known  of  two  institutions,  and  there  are  a  great  many 
others,  in  which  the  needs  of  the  departments  are  all  carefully  con- 
sidered, and,  in  so  far  as  the  resources  of  the  institutions  will  permit, 
the  president  is  left  free  as  to  the  applications  of  the  funds  to  the 
different  departments,  and  is  held  accountable  for  the  results.  It  has 
been  said,  owing  to  the  great  multiplicity  of  the  interests  involved  in 
the  large  institutions,  that  this  centralization  of  power  has  become  a 
necessity;  but  the  very  conditions  which  make  centralization  a  ne- 
cessity disqualify  any  one  man  for  the  discharge  of  those  duties. 
And  to  exercise  centralized  power,  those  conditions  necessitate  general 
consiiltation  with  the  departments. 

Of  the  many  valuable  points  presented  in  the  paper  just  read, 
which  it  wdll  be  a  pleasure  to  me  to  remember,  the  central  one  is  that, 
after  all,  existing  conditions  arise  from  the  changed  interpretation  of 
what  a  college  or  university  is.  The  remarks  as  to  advertising  on  the 
roofs  of  buildings  suggest  that  the  point  which  must  be  attacked  is 
the  whole  administrative  spirit  of  institutions.  It  has  not  come  to 
be  a  question  of  development  of  human  character,  the  elevation  of 
social  life,  which  the  writer  of  the  paper  has  justly  said  is  the  true  and 
only  function  of  an  educational  institution.  It  is  from  losing  sight  of 
that  ideal  that  all  of  this  trouble  has  come.  It  seems  to  be  not  a 
question  of  how  great  we  are,  but  as  to  how  large.  To-day  we  have, 
I  truly  believe,  in  many  institutions,  small  and  great,  too  much  de- 
votion to  the  popularizing  of  a  name,  and  too  little  devotion  to  high 
ideals. 


(47) 


48 

President  James  H.  "Baker,  LL.D. 

University  of  Colorado 

It  seems  a  little  inappropriate  that  college  presidents  should  have 
much  to  do  with  this  discussion,  but  I  was  very  much  interested 
in  this  paper. 

The  college  or  university  system  in  this  country  is  peculiar  to  this 
country.  We  are  doing  work  in  a  wav  in  which  it  was  never  undertaken 
in  any  other  country.  I  wonder  whether  Oxford  to-day  would  not  be 
better  if  it  were  so  organized  that  it  could  feel  the  influence  of  leader- 
ship in  touch  with  progressive  sentiment.  I  wonder  if  the  universities 
in  France,  for  instance  the  University  of  Paris,  might  not  accomplish 
some  things  better  if  the  rector  had  some  power  that  was  not  pre- 
scribed for  him  in  detail  by  the  central  government,  and  if  the  insti- 
tution was  so  organized  that  some  initiative  could  be  taken  by  the 
institution  itself.  In  France  the  position  of  a  professor  is  exactly 
defined  and  guarded. 

If  the  writer  of  this  paper  had  referred  to  Clark  University,  or  Johns 
Hopkins  University,  I  could  appreciate  his  point  of  view,  I  think, 
perfectly.  It  may  be  we  are  going  wrong.  It  may  be  we  should  have 
only  the  genuine  university  in  this  country  entirely  separate  from  any 
college  function.  But  so  long  as  we  have  the  college  in  which  most 
of  the  so-called  university  work  is  done,  it  may  be  that  that  dignity, 
which  belongs  to  the  professor,  would  be  hardly  a  substitute  for  the 
kind  of  leadership  we  have  in  a  college  president.  This  question 
of  democracy  is  a  great  question.  Somebody  has  recently  said 
that  just  now  the  monarchs  of  the  old  world  are  sitting  back  com- 
fortably and  saying:  "Of  course,  in  a  democracy  there  is  nobody 
to  take  care  of  the  people." 

I  think  that  a  faculty  which  governs  itself  in  an  extreme  degree  is 
likely  to  be  exceedingly  conservative ;  is  likely  to  perpetuate  tradition ; 
is  likely  not  to  be  in  touch  with  progressive  thought,  although  it  may 
tend  to  produce  a  few  great  geniuses.  We  have  a  great  president  of 
the  republic,  who  is  assuming  some  leadership,  and  I  think  to  the 
immense  advantage  of  this  country. 

Let  me  refer  to  an  institution  that  of  late  years  has  been  developing 
considerably.  I  know  some  years  ago  the  faculty  very  largely  con- 
trolled its  affairs.  It  was  a  state  university.  It  had  no  students,  or 
almost  none.  But,  they  said,  and  said  publicly  and  frankly,  "We  are 
a  strong  facul  y,  we  are  scholarly  men,  we  have  high  standards,  we 
propose  to  maintain  them,  we  do  not  care  anything  about  the  public, 
and  we  do  not  care  to  have  students,  unless  we  can  have  them  at  the 
ideal  standard.  '  Now  the  people  had  established  that  university 
for  the  graduates  of  the  high  schools,  and  the  people  began  to  say  they 
would  abolish  the  institution  unless  it  served  its  purpose.  They 
demanded  that  the  professors  go  to  every  high  school  in  the  state, 

(48)        . 


49 

and  advertise  and  make  known  that  there  was  an  institution  supported 
bv  the  people  of  the  state  for  the  benefit  of  the  state.  That  work 
never  would  have  been  done  by  a  faculty  controlling  its  own  affairs, 
without  leadership.  We  must  have  leadership  that  will  connect  the 
faculty  with  progress  and  with  the  people. 

I  admire  the  ideal  that  was  presented.  I  am  so  constituted  that  I 
would  like  to  see  that  kind  of  an  institution  exclusively  in  this  country  ; 
but  I  am  not  sure  that  I  am  not  wrong  in  that  feeling.  I  am  not  sure 
that  the  work  we  are  doing,  which  requires  leadership  and  organiza- 
tion, is  not  better  for  our  democracy.  I  suggest  these  things  for  dis- 
cussion. 

Professor  Richard  Joxes,  Ph.  D. 
Trustee  of  Iowa  College;  Professor  in  Vanderhilt  University 

As  bearing  upon  the  subject  before  us,  namely,  the  academic 
career,  what  it  has  offered  in  the  past,  what  it  may  offer  in  the  future, 
especiallv  what  it  mav  offer  in  the  future,  let  us  consider  for  a  moment 
the  University  of  Illinois  with  its  really  magnificent  plant — which  has 
sprung  up  in  a  night,  as  it  were.  For  the  very  unusual  additions  to 
this  plant,  made  in  so  short  a  time  as  a  decade,  due  credit  has  been 
gladly  given  on  all  sides  to  the  great  administrator  who  has  stimulated 
and  guided  this  remarkable  development.  But  now  that  this  work 
is  to  a  large  extent  accomplished — for  it  would  appear  to  the  visiting 
observer,  or  the  observing  visitor,  that  there  can  be  little  need  of 
additions  to  the  plant,  unless  perhaps  something  here  and  there  to 
round  out  and  complete  a  perfect  whole — this  great  State,  it  is  evident, 
has  in  mind  nothing  short  of  perfection, — what  would  now  appear  to 
be  the  work  of  the  incoming  president  and  his  board  of  trustees? 
Obviously,  to  make  the  best  possible  use  of  this  plant,  to  get  results, 
educational  results.  That  is  to  say,  the  work  of  the  individual  pro- 
fessor, both  in  instruction  and  in  research,  now  becomes  relatively  of 
greater  consequence  than  ever  before.  The  erection  of  the  plant  was 
a  work  of  such  paramount  importance  that  the  teaching  professor, 
even  though  there  were  scores  of  him,  occupied  for  the  time  a  place  of 
comparative  unimportance.  But  now  that  the  plant  is  established, 
and  due  honor  for  the  great  work  worthily  bestowed,  there  will  be 
leisure  for  observing  that  a  plant  is  of  small  value  without  the  best 
possible  instruction.  And  thus  it  will  come  about  naturally  and  easily 
that  the  individual  professor  will  come  into  his  own.  The  adminis- 
tration, no  longer  under  the  necessity  of  securing  funds  for  new  build- 
ings, can  now  devote  its  energies  to  making  attractive  to  the  professor 
the  academic  career,  to  the  professor  who  finds  his  joy  in  life  in  his 
work  as  a  professor  rather  than  in  a  deanship  or  any  form  of  admin- 
istrative work — especially  affording  him  opportunity  and  leisure, 
that  is,  freedom  for  mere  drudgery,  for  doing  some  research  work  of 

(49) 


50 

his  own,  which  is  to  the  university  professor  the  breath  of  hfe,  enabhng 
him  thus  to  extend  the  boundaries  of  knowledge  a  Httle  into  what 
Carlyle  has  caUed  the  "Circumambient  Realm  of  Nothingness  and 
Night."  And  as  the  development  of  the  University  of  Illinois  is 
tvpical  of  that  of  many  other  American  universities,  except  in  the 
unusual  rapidity  of  its  development,  we  may  perhaps  conclude  that  the 
pains  endured  by  the  university  professor  generally  are  "growing 
pains"  and  await  the  day  of  deliverance. 

But  though  these  pains  are  evidence  of  life,  let  us  not  deny  the 
pain.  Even  on  this  happy  occasion,  when  evidences  of  wonderful 
growth  meet  the  eye  and  statistics  greet  the  ear  and  the  atmosphere  is 
filled  with  the  halo  of  the  greater  glory  yet  to  dawn,  let  us  not  care- 
lessly assert  that  "perfection,  nothing  less,  greets  us  here."  There  is 
probably  not  an  institution  in  all  this  great  Mississippi  Valley  that 
could  offer  a  professorship  which  would  induce  a  professor,  a  full  pro- 
fessor, of  Oxford,  for  example,  to  resign,  even  leaving  out  of  consider- 
ation any  question  of  home  and  native  land. 

Much  vet  remains  to  be  done  to  make  the  academic  career  as  at- 
tractive and  useful  as  it  is  possible  for  it  to  be.  Happy  they 
who  live  under  an  administration  which  knows,  which  combines  sweet- 
ness and  light. 

President  Brown  Ayers,  LL.D. 

University  of  Tennessee 

I  confess  to  a  great  deal  of  sympathy  with  the  feeling  of  the  dis- 
tinguished gentleman  who  has  read  the  paper  under  discussion,  and 
have  been  conscious  in  past  years  of  a  considerable  conflict  in  the 
State  in  which  I  have  resided  in  regard  to  those  matters.  I  have  been 
forced  to  think  a  good  deal  about  this  whole  question  from  my  in- 
terest in  an  institution  that  is  known  to  all  in  this  country,  and  which 
had  lately  changed  from  an  institution  governed  by  the  faculty  into 
an  institution  governed  by  the  president;  namely,  the  University  of 
Virginia. 

I  am  verv  well  acquainted  with  a  number  of  the  faculty  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Virginia,  and  in  personal  conference  with  them,  I  have  heard 
from  time  to  time  in  the  course  of  years,  a  good  deal  about  the  grow- 
ing impatience  on  their  part  at  the  amount  of  business  detail  forced 
on  the  faculty  because  of  this  faculty  form  of  government.  The 
professors  in  charge  of  departments  were  beginning,  I  think,  to  feel 
that  it  was  really  no  part  of  their  business,  as  teachers,  to  attend  to 
all  those  business  details.  We  have  there  a  very  excellent  illustration 
of  an  institution  1hat  has  been  very  conservative  in  regard  to  the 
matter  of  faculty  government.  It  has  been  compelled  by  the  opinion 
of  the  men,  who  constituted  the  faculty,  to  abandon  that  system,  to 
a  very  considerable  extent,  and  adopt  the  system  of  having  the  presi- 

(50) 


51 

dent  accountable  for  the  control  and  disposition  of  the  funds  of  the 
institution.  The  system  of  a  limited  power  in  the  hands  of  a  chair- 
man necessitated  the  agreement  of  the  faculty  to  a  very  large  number 
of  business  details,  which  proved  unsatisfactory  and  had  a  tendency 
to  produce  impatience  on  the  part  of  the  faculty. 

It  seems  to  me  desirable  to  have  the  influence  of  the  faculty  largely 
determine  the  general  educational  policy.  The  only  question  arising  is 
"whether  the  system  of  faculty  government,  suggested  by  the  speaker, 
would  have  any  very  considerable  advantage  over  the  system  in  use  in 
our  institutions  at  the  present  time;  where  the  president,  by  means  of 
an  academic  council  which  represents  the  various  departments,  or  by 
means  of  an  academic  senate,  or  some  similar  body,  gets  at  the  senti- 
ments of  the  faculty  as  nearly  as  possible,  or  gets  them  by  personal 
conference,  as  suggested.  This  is  rather  a  difficult  question  for  me  to 
answer.  Whether  any  thing  more  would  be  gained  by  a  more  formal 
system  than  is  gained  by  our  present  somewhat  informal  systeni, 
which  is  fairly  effective,  I  am  not  prepared  to  say. 

The  business  necessities  of  the  case  call  for  efficiency.  This  led  to 
organization  and  centralization  of  power;  and  it  all  reduces  itself  to 
what  character  of  man  the  president  shall  be.  Of  course,  if  the  presi- 
dent is  an  unfit  man  to  hold  the  office,  I  think  that  would  soon  become 
apparent,  and  dissatisfaction  on  the  part  of  the  faculty  and  the  public 
would  push  him  to  one  side  and  make  room  for  some  one  better  quali- 
fied. With  this  reasonable  amount  of  preparation  in  scholastic  learn- 
ing, enabling  him  to  appreciate  the  educational  side  of  an  institution, 
and  with  common  sense  and  tact  necessary  to  administer  the  busi- 
ness of  an  institution,  I  do  not  see  that  serious  menance  which  Dr. 
Jastrow  has  pointed  out.  We  can  see  that  the  abuse  of  the  office 
would  lead  to  a  great  many  difficulties.  I  have  some  sympathy  with 
the  general  plan  he  suggests  in  regard  to  the  system  of  gradual 
promotion — a  logical  system  of  promotion;  I  believe,  if  such  a 
system  as  that  could  be  devised,  it  would  be  very  satisfactory  and 
every  college  president  would  be  glad  to  have  it  in  operation,  be- 
cause one  of  the  most  difficult  things  I  can  conceive  is  doing  real 
justice  to  all  members  of  the  faculty.  But  any  mechanical  system 
that  could  be  devised,  I  can  readily  see,  might  very  often  have  the 
effect  to  hold  a  man  in  an  institution  who  ought  not  to  be  there, 
and  encourage  those  to  go  on  who  are  really  not  fitted  for 
high  positions.  There  would  come  to  be,  at  the  end  of  five  years,  a 
very  awkward  condition  of  things,  in  which  a  man  would  have  to  be 
turned  out  entirely  by  reason  of  unfitness  for  promotion,  when  other- 
wise he  might  still  be  made  useful  in  some  minor  position. 

The  present  system,  defective  as  it  is,  is  elastic  enough  to  allow  a 
man  to  be  held  for  the  real  value  that  he  is  to  the  institution,  and  at 


(51) 


52 

the  same  time  he  will  not  be  encouraged  to  think  he  is  more  valuable 
than  he  is. 

I  realize  the  great  difficulty  along  this  line,  but  I  must  say  I  do  not 
think  the  scheme  suggested  by  the  paper  would  have  many  advantages 
over  the  method  now  in  use. 


Mr.  S.  a.  Bullard,  M.  Arch. 
President  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  University  of  Illinois 

I  hardly  feel  like  talking  in  the  presence  of  so  many  college  presi- 
dents. However,  I  might  say  a  few  words  in  reference  to  the  history 
of  the  University.  At  the  organization  of  the  University,  the  trustees 
were  appointed  by  the  governor.  There  were  five  appointed  from  each 
of  the  three  judicial  divisions  of  the  State,  and  one  from  each  con- 
gressional district  of  the  State.  There  were  three  who  held  the  office 
by  virtue  of  holding  some  other  office  in  the  State,  one  of  them  being 
the  president  of  the  University.  He  became  a  member  and  also  presi- 
dent of  the  board.  There  were  thirty-two  members  of  the  board  at 
that  time.  Operations  under  that  regime  did  not  last  very  long.  The 
arrangement  seemed  to  be  unsatisfactory.  The  board  was  a  large 
one,  and  it  put  into  the  hands  of  the  president  of  the  University 
immense  power.  He  not  only  had  the  administration  of  the  Univer- 
sity itself,  but  he  had  the  administration  of  the  affairs  of  the  board; 
and  as  you  all  know,  in  assemblies  of  that  size,  the  president  can  pass 
almost  any  measure  by  the  gavel,  that  he  wants  to  pass.  So  as  a 
matter  of  fact  the  president  had  almost  unlimited  power.  Only  a 
few  years  after  the  legislature  entirely  changed  the  whole  system. 
They  reduced  the  board  of  trustees  to  eleven  members,  of  which  the 
president  of  the  University  was  no  longer  one.  It  has  been  since  then 
increased  to  twelve  members.  Nine  trustees  are  now  elected.  The 
state  superintendent  of  public  instruction  is  now  a  member;  as  is  the 
president  of  the  state  board  of  agriculture,  and  the  governor,  making 
twelve  in  all. 

This  change  arose  from  the  fact  that  at  that  time  the  people — I  say 
the  people,  because  it  was  through  the  legislature — felt  that  too  much 
power  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  president  of  the  University.  A 
change  was  made  because  of  that  fact,  although  everyone  in  the  State, 
including  everv  member  of  the  legislature,  had  the  highest  regard  for 
the  President  of  the  University.  He  was  our  first  President  and  he 
remained  President  of  the  University  for  a  good  many  years  after  that 
change  was  made.  While  perhaps  he  did  not  approve  of  it,  he  ac- 
cepted the  change  and  went  on  with  the  work,  and  I  think  the  Uni- 
versitv  grew  and  prospered  more  after  the  change  than  before. 

I  feel  like  saying  also  a  word  or  two  in  regard  to  advancing  pro- 
fessors.    The    system,    as    laid    down    by    the    writer  of    the    paper 

(52) 


53 

under  consideration  is  a  most  excellent  one.  We  ought  to 
have  some  system  of  that  kind.  However,  I  think  the  sys- 
tem should  not  be  made  unbending.  It  should  be  elastic,  and 
.  very  much  so.  Every  officer  of  a  corporation  has  to  pass  an 
inspection  once  in  a  while ;  this  is  true  from  the  president  down  to 
the  least  important  officer.  Presidents  of  universities  also  have  to 
pass  under  inspection,  and  it  comes  up  in  the  board  every  once  in  a 
while  whether  it  would  not  be  a  good  idea  to  have  a  change  of  admin- 
istration. This  question  is  raised  also  as  to  heads  of  departments  and 
to  professors,  not  with  any  serious  intent  perhaps;  and  yet  there  is  a 
feeling  going  about,  especially  among  members  of  boards  of  trustees, 
that  we  ought  to  continually  inspect  the  work  of  each  one.  Every 
president  here  knows  that  fact;  so  that  if  we  have  a  rigid  system  by 
which  promotion  may  be  expected,  it  is  evidently  going  to  work  a 
hardship  to  some  members  of  the  faculty.  For  instance,  a  certain 
member  of  the  faculty  is  apparently  not  strong.  He  does  not  shine 
like  some  others,  but  he  is  a  sober,  earnest,  hardworking  man  and 
accomplishes  what  he  undertakes  to  accomplish.  He  moves  like  a 
great  ship,  slowlv,  but  powerfully.  His  character  is  not  noticed  so 
readily  as  a  man  who  is  able  to  shine  on  every  occasion  where  he 
might  be  brought  forward,  and  we  see  no  kind  of  surface  illumination 
in  his  character,  or  in  his  position,  or  professorship,  which  expresses 
the  real  relationship  between  him  and  the  others  of  whom  I  have 
spoken.  Judgment  has  to  be  used  in  such  a  case,  lest  a  man  might  be 
dropped  who  does  not  shine  brightly,  but  whose  work  in  his  depart- 
ment gives  good  results,  and  promotes  the  general  interest  of  the  uni- 
versity. What  are  you  going  to  do,  when  the  five  years  are  up?  You 
will,  under  the  system  suggested,  have  to  say  to  him  that  he  must 
drop  out.  Yet  he  is  a  good  man.  You  can  hardly  find  any  fault  with 
him.  But  you  say  he  is  not  nearly  so  good  as  some  others,  and  shall 
these  men  be  promoted  equally  ?  It  is  a  difficult  matter  to  deal  with 
and  do  justice.  We  cannot  make  a  cast-iron  rule  for  the  promotion  of 
every  man.  Men  must  stand  on  their  individual  qualities  and  char- 
acter. 

I  agree  with  the  writer  of  the  paper  in  very  many  of  the  things  he 
has  said,  but  I  believe  that  an  unlimited  power  in  the  faculty  is  not 
wholly  desirable.  There  should  be  some  pow'er  that  can  be  appealed 
to  for  final  settlement.  Not  only  that,  but  there  must  be  some  execu- 
tive power  to  determine  almost  all  of  the  matters  that  arise,  and  that 
power  can  be  lodged  in  the  president.  It  can  be  done,  it  seems  to  me, 
most  satisfactorily  in  that  way.  If  the  president  is  the  kind  of  a  man 
who  ought  to  be  president  he  is  a  fellow  with  the  facult}^  •  Moreover, 
he  is  a  fellow  with  the  members  of  the  board.  The  fact  is,  I  some- 
times think,  that  the  best  president  of  a  university,  is  the  president  who 
can  handle  the  board  right.     It  shows  the  tact  and  power  of  the  man. 

(53) 


54 

If  he  can  handle  the  board  right,  I  am  sure  he  can  handle  the  faculty 
right.  By  this  I  mean  a  president  who  grasps  so  clearly  and  fully  the 
truth  of  matters  and  has  the  ability  to  put  them  before  his  board  and 
his  faculty  so  forcibly  that  their  indorsement  of  his  views  and  recom- 
mendations will  naturally  follow.  This  I  regard  as  a  proper  way  for 
a  president  to  handle  his  board  or  his  faculty. 

A  board  that  is  elected  by  the  people  has  duties  to  perform  of  a 
very  different  nature,  and  looks  at  things  in  a  very  different  way  from 
the  way  a  university  president  or  faculty  would  view  them;  for,  a 
professor  in  a  department  looks  usually  to  the  students  he  has  under 
him  with  a  view  to  making  them  scholars  in  that  department.  The 
board  does  not  look  at  them  exactly  in  that  way.  It  looks  not  only 
to  the  making  of  a  scholar,  but  a  useful  man.  The  professor  who  only 
wants  to  make  a  scholar  of  the  student  is  satisfied  when  he  has  made 
the  scholar.  The  board  of  trustees  will  not  be  satisfied  with  that  kind 
of  a  product  from  the  university.  Hence  I  say  we  have  a  different 
view.  If  the  professor  sends  out  from  the  university  a  man  who  is  a 
scholar  when  he  leaves  the  university,  but  is  not  a  practical,  strong 
man,  a  good  member  of  the  community  and  society,  then  the  board  of 
trustees,  I  think,  ought  to  have  the  authority  to  go  to  that  professor 
and  say  to  him,  "We  want  better  material  turned  out,  we  want  men 
rather  than  merely  scholars.  We  want  scholars  and  men  combined." 
That  is  the  view  the  trustees  have  and  which  professors  do  not  always 
have.  I  think  that  can  be  adjusted.  I  appreciate  a  meeting  of  this 
kind,  where  we  can  exchange  opinions. 


Mr.  James  P.  Munroe 
Trustee  of  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology 

Let  me  say  a  word  in  reference  to  questions  that  have  not  yet  been 
touched  upon.  One  was,  as  stated  by  Mr.  Bullard,  that  the  presi- 
dent who  does  not  observe  practically  the  line  of  democratic  action, 
suggested  by  Professor  Jastrow,  would  quickly  disappear.  What  I 
tried  to  emphasize  on  Tuesday  is,  that  the  public  mind  is  becoming 
wrongly  educated,  that  it  is  learning  to  accept  and  even  to  demand 
the  kind  of  college  president  that,  to  my  mind,  is  undermining  the 
academic  career.  It  demands  of  a  president  that  he  shall  be  auto- 
cratic in  order  to  "boom"  the  college.  We  must  educate  the  public 
to  understand  that  the  president  should  be  simply  an  interpreter — 
a  sort  of  mouth-piece  to  his  faculty.  I  have  heard  presidents  of  two 
great  universities  in  this  country  say  that  the  presidency  would  be 
comparatively  an  easy  ofifice  if  they  could  get  rid  of  their  petty- 
minded,  meddling  faculties. 

Those  same  presidents,  and  others,  offer  as  an  excuse  for  their 
discourtesies  to  their  fellow-workers,  that  the  average  faculty  is  not 

(54) 


55 

fitted  to  take  up  these  large  questions — that  it  is  too  slow — and  they 
maintain  that  it  would  take  too  much  time  to  educate  their  faculties. 
But  I  think  that  Professor  Jastrow,  in  his  paper,  has  pointed  out  why 
faculties  at  present, — many  of  them, — are  incompetent  to  treat  broad 
questions  in  a  broad  way.  It  is  because  their  lives  are  given,  under 
the  present  system,  to  the  consideration  of  limited  and  petty  matters 
which  neither  fit  nor  lift  their  minds  up  to  great  educational  prob- 
lems. We  have  got  to  have  reform  in  this  direction, — reform  not  only 
for  its  own  sake,  but  for  the  sake  of  lifting  faculties  up  to  a  higher  plane 
of  administrative  and  educational  thought. 


Mrs.  Norman  Frederick  Thompson 
Trustee  of  Wellesley  College 

I  am  in  sympathv  with  the  view  expressed  that  there  should  be 
some  connection  between  the  faculty  and  the  board  of  trustees  aside 
from  the  president.  The  system  Professor  Jastrow  indicates  is 
fraught  with  some  danger ;  but  from  the  alumni  of  our  institutions  we 
have  members  of  our  board  who  are  somewhat  familiar  with  questions 
that  arise  in  the  management  of  affairs,  and  who  might  serve  as  a  con- 
necting link  between  faculty  and  board  of  trustees. 

It  would  be  well  if  a  system  could  be  put  in  practice  whereby  the 
the  faculty  and  trustees  could  consult  and  act  upon  certain  questions 
without  having  their  presentation  colored  by  passing  through  the 
prism  of  the  president's  mind.  A  distinct  advantage  would  thus  be 
gained. 


Mrs.  Carrie  T.  Alexander 

Trustee  of  the  University  of  Illinois 

The  board  of  trustees  of  the  University  of  Illinois  is  elective  and 
is  unique  in  so  far  as  women  are  eligible  to  membership.  Three 
trustees,  one  of  whom  may  be  a  woman,  are  elected  every  two  years 
for  a  term  of  six  years,  and  so  far  as  I  know  this  board  is  the  only  one 
of  its  kind. 

As  to  the  wisdom  or  usefulness  of  women  on  the  board,  there  may 
be,  and  no  doubt  is,  a  diversity  of  opinion.  As  one  of  them  you  will 
pardon  me  when  I  j:)resent  the  favorable  opinion. 

While  women  may  be  governed  by  intuition  rather  than  by  reason, 
and  (in  the  opinion  of  men)  may  rush  in  where  angels  fear  to  tread, 
their  conclusions  are  often  surprisingly  wise.  Moreover,  whatever 
their  conclusions  may  be,  women  will  defend  them  in  the  face  of  great 
opposition,  unmindful  of  eftects  upon  their  own  interests;  while  men 
with,  perhaps,  the  same  conclusion  reached  by  a  series  of  deductions, 
being  more  politic,  will  shrug  their  shoulders  and  "let  it  go." 

(55) 


56 

Women  are  much  more  economical  and  careful  in  the  expenditure 
of  money. 

Several  years  experience  as  manager  and  owner  of  a  street  railway, 
where  revenue  was  made  up  of  "nickels"  and  expenses  ran  into  dollars, 
may  have  warped  my  financial  vision.  However,  service  on  the  board, 
knowledge  of  economical  administration  of  state  institutions,  to  say 
nothing  of  organizations  of  wom^n  with  women  as  the  administrators 
of  affairs,  confirm  my  belief. 

No  doubt  there  is  a  reason  for  this.  Their  early  training  as  chil- 
dren, when  they  are  taught  to  make  the  most  of  their  toys  and  per 
sonal  belongings,  together  with  later  experience  when  money  is  doled 
out  to  them  in  small  sums  by  an  indulgent  father,  husband,  or  other 
male  relative,  has  taught  them  how  to  make  money  go  farther  than 
any  man  could  imagine.  Fortunately  or  unfortunately,  with  self- 
supporting  women  on  the  increase,  conditions  will  change. 

My  conception,  therefore,  of  the  duties  of  a  trustee  is  to  be  ever 
watchful, — to  conserve  the  best  interest  of  the  institution  without 
entirely  forgetting  the  taxpayer. 


Professor  Jastrow^ 

I  beg  to  remove  the  impression,  which  seems  erroneously  to  have 
been  conveved,  that  I  have  advocated  the  abolition  of  the  presidential 
office,  and  desire  to  have  no  other  governing  body  in  the  university 
than  the  faculty.  I  have  very  explicitly  stated  that  I  believe  the 
organization  of  the  university  in  America  to  demand  an  official  upon 
whom  shall  fall  many  of  the  responsibilities  that  now  fall  upon  the 
president.  I  have,  however,  expressed  my  adherence  to  the  opinion 
that  facultv  opinion  be  so  strong,  faculty  consideration  so  authorita- 
tive, and  faculty  direction  so  universally  acknowledged,  that  the 
president  should  have  no  desire  to  be  anything  more  than  the  author- 
ized exponent  of  that  opinion  (not  of  his  personal  one),  and  should 
never  take  any  steps  of  any  kind  that  do  not  bear  the  sanction  of  the 
faculty.  I  have  maintained  that  the  "administration"  should  be,  first 
and  foremost,  the  faculty,  with  a  coordinate  body  to  administer  finan- 
cial affairs  in  the  board,  and  a  recognized  centralized  representative  in 
the  president.  Under  such  a  system  the  present  temper  of  the  college 
president  would  be  impossible;  the  present  method  of  carrying  measures 
bv  the  president  to  the  board  without  consultation  of  the  faculty, 
equally  so.  I  see  no  reason  why  the  essential  features  and  provisions 
for  university  administration  should  not  be  retained,  but  so  entirely 
remodelled  in  spirit  that  the  actual  trend  of  administrative  measures 
will  be  almost  the  opposite  of  what  it  now  is. 

iln  revising  these  notes,  I  am  able  to  refer  to  an  article  by  Professor  Stevenson  in  the  Popular 
Science  Monthly  for  December,  in  which  the  only  acceptable  solution  of  the  difficulty  is  maintained 
to  be  the  abolition  of  the  presidential  office. 

(56) 


57 


QUESTIONS   REGARDING   COLLEGE   ADMINISTRATION* 

Deax  Charles  E.  Bessey 

Trustee  of  Doane  College 


♦Read,  in  the  author's  absence,  by  Professor  S.  A.  Forbes,  of  the  University  of  Illinois. 

1.  "What  should  be  the  real  administrative  body  of  a  college  or 
university,  the  faculty  or  the  trustees? 

"Should  the  trustees  limit  their  functions  to  selecting  a  faculty  and 
then  vest  in  the  latter  the  actual  administration,  or  should  the  board 
itself  undertake  to  administer  the  institution,  either  as  a  body  or 
through  its  committees?" 

In  all  matters  pertaining  to  and  involving  the  expenditure  of  money, 
the  trustees  should  be  the  administrative  body,  but  in  educational  matters 
the  faculty  and  the  trustees  should  both  take  action.  In  the  latter  case, 
the  faculty  should  first  act,  and  then  submit  their  action  to  the  trustees  for 
approval.  It  is  best  that  the  trustees  should  delegate  the  arrangement  of 
details  to  the  faculty. 

Since  the  power  to  control  the  expenditure  of  money  must  rest  with 
the  trustees,  it  follows  that  they  and  not  the  faculty  have  final  control 
even  in  educational  matters.  It  will  help  to  clarify  the  situation  if 
this  fact  be  well  understood  at  the  outset.  In  all  charters  with  which 
I  am  acquainted  the  trustees  are  made  responsible  for  the  financial 
management  of  the  institution.  In  state  colleges  and  universities, 
this  responsibility  is  emphasized,  and  trustees  are  held  strictly  ac- 
countable for  every  item  of  expenditure.  It  is  plain,  therefore,  that 
the  real  administrative  body  is  the  board  of  trustees,  since  by  granting 
or  withholding  money  they  can  promote  or  defeat  any  project.  I  am 
not  saying  what  should  be  the  real  administrative  body ;  I  am  merely 
reciting  the  facts  as  they  exist,  and  as  they  must  exist  in  all  state 
universities,  and  most  private  ones  as  well. 

Now,  as  a  matter  of  expediency,  all  boards  of  trustees  should  at 
once  delegate  to  the  faculties  the  arrangement  of  all  details  of  manage- 
ment, and  then  follow  the  sound  business  policy  of  non-interference 
in  regard  to  all  delegated  powers.  Elsewhere  in  society  and  in  poli- 
tics, there  are  numberless  cases  of  such  delegation  of  powers,  and  a 
successful  practice  of  non-interference,  and  there  is  no  good  reason 
why  it  should  not  be  equally  feasible  in  college  matters. 

In  all  cases  where  questions  of  policv  are  concerned  ultimately 
involving  the  expenditure  of  money,. it  is  manifest  that  the  trustees 
must  take  action.  Thus,  the  establishment  of  new  departments  and 
courses  of  study,  while  the  faculty  is  the  only  body  capable  of  formu- 
lating the  matter,  it  must  be  favorably  acted  upon  by  the  trustees 
before  it  can  receive  the  necessary  financial  support.  It  is  clearly 
impracticable,  and  therefore  impossible  for  any  board  of  trustees  to 
allow  the  faculty  to  pass  finally  upon  matters  which  necessitate  ex- 
penditures of  money  not  yet  authorized  by  the  board  itself. 

(57) 


58 

A  good  working  scheme  is  that  which  recognizes  the  powers  and 
duties  of  both  bodies.  In  general,  the  faculty  takes  the  initiative, 
and  proposes  a  plan  which  is  then  submitted  to  the  trustees  for  their 
approval.  In  case  of  non-approval,  the  matter  must  of  necessity  be 
dropped  for  the  present,  or  so  modified  as  to  meet  with  approval 
later.  In  case  of  approval,  the  trustees  provide  for  the  expense  of 
the  project,  and  should  delegate  the  arrangement  of  details  to  the 
faculty  as  the  body  of  experts  who  are  supposed  to  know  more  about 
these  matters  than  the  members  of  the  governing  body.  I  have  known 
of  cases  where  a  progressive  board  of  trustees  took  the  initiative, 
asking  the  faculty  to  prepare  and  present  a  plan  for  the  consideration 
of  the  trustees.  This  is  quite  proper,  and  under  the  circumstances 
the  only  thing  to  do.  I  have,  alas,  known  of  cases  where  the  trustees 
did  not  wait  for  faculty  action,  but  themselves  formulated  the  plan 
independently  of  the  faculty.  I  cannot  too  strongly  condemn  such 
action,  and  while  some  faculties  are  no  doubt  much  too  slow  and  con- 
servative, yet  in  the  end  the  trustees  would  have  done  better  to 
have  requested  previous  consideration  by  the  teaching  body. 

"2.  Should  the  president  of  the  institution  be  the  sole  advisory 
authority  to  the  board  of  trustees,  or  should  the  other  administrative 
officers,  or  the  various  faculties  be  consulted?" 

In  general,  the  president  should  he  the  adviser  of  the  board  of  trustees 
as  well  as  of  the  faculties,  hut  in  difficult  or  douhtful  cases,  the  hoard 
should  consult  with  faculty  officers,  or  even  with  professors  and  instructors, 
hut  in  general,  the  president  should  he  the  only  one  to  carry  petitions, 
applications,  recommendations ,  etc.,  to  the  hoard. 

In  discussing  this  question,  it  is  well  first  of  all  to  agree  upon  the 
place  of  the  president  in  the  college.  I  have  found  not  a  little  feeling 
on  the  part  of  professors  that  the  president  is  a  more  or  less  high  priced 
figure  head,  or  even  a  troublesome  hindrance  to  faculty  plans,  and  I 
may  as  well  confess  that  at  times  I  have  shared  in  views  something 
like  these.  Yet  I  am  convinced  that  the  president  is  a  necessary 
officer  in  every  institution  of  learning  where  there  are  many  professors 
and  instructors  at  work  in  manv  departments,  and  having  different 
duties.  The  millenium  has  not  yet  approached  near  enough  for  us  to 
be  able  to  conduct  successfully  a  business  as  complex  as  that  of  a  col- 
lege without  an  executive  head.  The  president  is  (or  should  be)  the 
expert  in  the  business  of  education  who  is  the  executor  of  the  plans 
duly  adopted  by  the  trustees  on  the  one  hand  and  the  faculty  on  the 
other.  Moreover,  there  falls  to  him  verv  naturally,  the  work  of  plan- 
ning for  improvements,  some  of  which  must  go  to  the  faculty  for  fur- 
ther development,  while  others  should  be  laid  before  the  trustees. 
Where  the  scope  of  the  work  of  the  president  is  fully  understood  by 
faculty,  trustees  and  the  president  himself,  there  should  be  no  jeal- 
ousy or  fear  in  regard  to  the  rights  and  limits  of  any  one.     From  his 

(58) 


59 

position,  the  president  is  the  natural  adviser  of  trustees  and  faculty. 
It  would  soon  result  in  confusion  if  trustees  were  to  undertake  the 
work  of  adviser,  collectively  or  individually,  for  the  professors,  and  in 
like  manner,  it  would  lead  to  confusion  if  every  professor  were  to  re- 
gard it  as  his  duty  to  act  the  part  of  advisor  to  the  trustees  upon  all 
kinds  of  questions  as  they  arise.  The  morale  of  the  institution  is  best 
maintained  where  suggestions  of  professors  are  first  discussed  in  open 
faculty  meetings,  and  the  results  transmitted  to  the  president  and 
trustees.  Yet  here,  the  fact  that  the  president  is  the  president,  and 
not  a  mere  clerk  must  be  borne  in  mind,  and  he  must  not  be  required 
to  lay  before  the  trustees  without  comment  any  action  of  the  faculty 
which  he  does  not  approve  In  fact,  every  action  of  the  faculty 
should  be  freely  discussed  with  the  president,  and  unless  it  receives  the 
practically  unanimous  approval  of  the  faculty,  his  disapproval  should 
be  final.  I  suggest  that  a  veto  power  should  be  accorded  the  presi- 
dent, and  also  the  power  of  reversing  the  veto  by  a  three-fourths  or 
four-fifths  vote  of  all  members  of  the  faculty  (not  of  a  mere  quorum). 
The  troubles  which  have  arisen  between  faculties  and  presidents  have 
often  been  due  to  the  fact  that  the  proper  relations  have  not  been 
understood  or  observed. 

I  may  say  in  passing,  that  in  all  institutions  (possibly  excepting 
the  very  small  colleges  where  the  president  is  also  a  professor  with  full 
work)  the  chief  executive  officer,  whether  called  president  or  chancel- 
lor, should  not  be  a  voting  member  of  the  faculty.  His  votes  should 
be  wholly  reserved  for  final  approval  or  disapproval. 

"3.  Should  the  facult}^  be  authorized  to  nominate  men  to  the 
board  for  vacancies,  or  should  that  be  done  by  the  president  or  by 
committees  or  by  members  of  the  board?" 

In  some  cases,  a  faculty  should  be  asked  by  the  board  to  make  nomi- 
nation, but  in  general,  the  nomination  should  be  made  by  the  president 
upon  recommendations  made  by  the  professors  in  nearly  allied  depart- 
ments. Where  there  are  several  faculties,  the  dean  of  the  faculty  in  winch 
the  vacancy  occurs,  should  have  a  voice  in  the  recom-m-endation,  unless  it 
be  a  minor  one  in  the  department. 

That  nominations  should  be  made  by  the  most  competent  body  in 
the  college,  needs  no  argument.  What  is  that  most  competent  body? 
In  the  case  of  a  vacanc}^  in  a  minor  position  it  is  clear  that  the  head 
professor  is  the  one  most  competent  to  make  a  nomination,  and  he  should 
be  asked  to  do  so.  In  case  of  a  vacancy  in  the  head  professorship, 
the  president  should  be  the  most  competent  to  make  a  nomination, 
since  it  is  his  business  to  know  who  are  the  successful  professors  in 
many  lines  of  work  in  the  colleges  of  the  country.  It  will  help  him 
to  make  a  careful  selection  if  he  takes  counsel  of  the  head  professors 
of  allied  departments,  and  the  deans  of  the  colleges  or  departments  in 
which  the  vacancy  occurs.      I  know  of  one  case  where  an  instructor 

(59) 


60 

had  made  such  a  fine  record  as  a  teacher  and  investigator  that  the 
faculty  took  action  unanimously  recommending  him  to  the  trustees 
for  election  to  a  full  professorship.  This  action  of  the  faculty  was 
ratified  by  the  trustees  with  the  happiest  results,  and  I  have  never 
known  a  better  appointment. 

"4.  How  should  trustees  be  selected?  (a)  By  cooptation?  (b) 
By  the  Alumni?     (c)  By  outside  authority? 

1.  In  case  of  private  institutions,  by  the  church  or  other 

body? 

2.  In  case  of  state  institutions, 

(a)  Appointed  by  the  Governor? 

(b)  Elected  by  the  people? 

(c)  or  ex-ofjicio,  e.  g.,  Governor,  Superintendent  of 

Public  Instruction,  etc.? 

(1.)  In  private  institutions:  by  election  by  the  board  itself  for  part  of 
the  trustees  and  by  election  by  the  alumni  for  the  remainder . 

(2.)  In  state  institutions:  by  election  by  the  people  at  large;  i.  e.,  all  the 
people  of  the  state  to  vote  for  candidates  for  all  of  the  vacancies.  This  is 
far  better  than  appointment  by  the  governor,  or  election  by  the  Legislature , 
or  ex-ofjicio.     The  latter  is  the  worst  of  all. 

I  have  nothing  further  to  sav  in  regard  to  the  election  of  trustees  of 
private  institutions.  In  state  universities,  appointment  by  the  gov- 
ernor is  certain,  sooner  or  later,  to  be  used  for  selfish  or  political  pur- 
poses. Nearly  every  man  elected  to  the  governorship  is  under  such 
obligations  to  certain  men  that  he  feels  compelled  to  listen  to  their 
requests  in  regard  to  this  or  that  appointment,  and  thus  it  happens 
that  men  become  trustees  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  out  the  wishes 
of  a  particular  politician.  I  know  of  a  case  where  in  this  way  a  gov- 
ernor in  a  western  state  "packed"  the  board  of  trustees  with  ap- 
pointees who  were  pledged  to  dismiss  two  professors  who  had  ofifended 
certain  politicians.  And  in  due  time,  the  pledge  was  carried  out,  and 
the  professors  summarily  kicked  out  of  the  college. 

The  same  objection  does  not  hold  with  respect  to  those  who  are  trustees 
ex-officio,  for  they  are  always  elected  for  some  other  purpose.  The 
objection  to  such  trustees  is  that  they  have  been  selected  on  account 
of  especial  fitness  for  other  duties,  or  political  expediency,  and  they 
quite  naturally  look  upon  their  trusteeship  as  entirely  secondary,  or 
as  an  opportunity  of  securing  a  little  more  "patronage."  In  one 
case,  the  trustee's  duties  are  neglected;  in  the  other,  the  office  is  too 
often  made  the  occasion  of  political  favoritism,  or  something  worse. 

Where  trustees  are  elected  "at  large"  for  long  terms  of  service,  at 
one  of  the  general  elections,  the  best  results  have  been  reached.  Of 
course,  the  trustees  secured  in  this  way  are  not  either  angels  or  edu- 
cational experts,  but  they  are  usually  honest  men  who  honor  their 
office.     They  were  nominated  in  open  state  convention,  and  elected 

(60) 


61 

by  the  votes  of  all  the  people  in  the  state,  so  that  they  are  not  indebted 
to  a  small  body  of  men  for  their  positions.  As  a  consequence,  they 
are  not  particularly  bound  to  any  set  of  men  and  are  free  to  act  as  they 
think  best.  In  Nebraska,  where  this  has  been  the  method  of  electing 
the  trustees  of  a  state  university  for  the  past  thirty  years,  there  has 
never  been  a  case  of  political  appointment  in  the  faculty,  or  a  dis- 
missal on  account  of  political  reasons.  I  have  seen  narrow  partv  men 
elected  to  the  board,  but  whose  election  left  them  so  wholly  free  and 
unpledged  that  they  forgot  party  lines  when  in  board  meetings. 
Even  when  the  fusion  party  (Populist,  Silver  Republicans,  and  Demo- 
crats) elected  a  majority  of  the  trustees  in  Nebraska,  not  a  professor, 
not  an  instructor,  not  an  employe  was  disturbed  on  account  of  his 
political  affiliations.  This  was  because  these  men  came  into  office 
untrammeled  and  unpledged. 

"5.  Should  the  trustees  assume  entire  control  of  the  financial 
administration,  or  should  they  allow  the  faculties  to  have  a  represen- 
tation also,  by  allowing  them  to  submit  a  budget  either  by  departments 
or  as  a  whole  ? ' ' 

.4  budget  should  be  prepared  by  the  president  or  finance  committee, 
based  upon  estimates  and  requests  formally  made  by  the  heads  of  all  the 
departments.  With  this  budget  before  them,  the  trustees  must  then  assume 
the,  financial  responsibility  of  ordering  expenditures . 

As  I  have  shown  in  discussing  the  first  question,  the  trustees  of  the 
college  actually  control  its  expenditures.  The  professors  know  their 
own  needs  better  than  the  trustees,  in  fact  the  latter  may,  and  prob- 
ably do  have  only  a  very  general  idea  of  departmental  needs.  It 
must  be  conceded,  however,  by  every  professor  that  the  trustees  know 
better  than  the  professors  what  are  the  aggregate  needs,  as  well  as 
what  are  the  available  funds.  Here  is  where  the  president  may  help 
both  trustees  and  faculty,  by  making  himself  as  fully  acquainted  as 
possible  with  the  financial  resources  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  needs 
on  the  other.  The  business  way  of  managing  such  a  matter  as  this, 
is  for  the  president  to  receive  the  estimates  of  the  professors,  and  after 
conferences  with  members  of  the  faculty  on  the  one  hand,  and  mem- 
bers of  the  board  of  trustees  on  the  other,  to  propose  such  a  budget  as 
will  be  a  fair  compromise  between  requests  and  resources. 

"6.  Should  the  trustees,  if  they  reserve  the  financial  authority, 
undertake  to  determine  the  budget  in  all  its  details,  or  should  they 
simply  distribute  by  departments  and  leave  it  to  the  individual  de- 
partments to  make  the  detailed  distribution  ? 

In  providing  for  the  expenses  of  departments,  the  details  must  be  left 
to  the  heads  of  departments ,  who  should  make  orders  and  purchases 
through  the  steward  or  proper  purchasing  officer  of  the  college. 

In  the  management  of  a  department  of  any  considerable  size  or 
complexity,  it  is  quite  impossible  for  the  head  professor  to  anticipate 

(61) 


62 

every  necessary  item  for  a  year  in  advance.  Only  in  a  general  way 
can  the  expenditures  be  anticipated,  and  there  will  arise  almost  daily 
the  need  for  something  which  could  not  have  been  anticipated  by  any 
foresight.  I  have  found  in  my  own  experience  in  the  management  of 
a  department,  which  extends  over  a  period  of  nearly  thirty-six  years, 
that  I  can  estimate  pretty  closely  as  to  the  aggregate  expenditures 
necessary  for  the  normal  growth  of  the  department,  and  I  can  even 
indicate  fairly  well  how  much  will  be  necessary  for  this  and  that 
subdivison  of  the  work,  but  it  often  happens  that  some  change  takes 
place  in  the  amount  of  work  which  must  be  done  which  makes  it 
necessary  to  quite  materially  increase  the  expenditures  here,  while 
decreasing  them  there.  I  consider  it  to  be  a  sound  policy  to  consult 
with  the  president  in  regard  to  plans  for  large  expenditures,  and  es- 
pecially for  such  as  involve  considerable  expenditure  for  a  series  of 
years.  In  other  words,  it  is  wise  not  to  begin  the  purchase  of  expen- 
sive annual  distributions  of  specimens,  or  of  particular  sets  of 
expensive  machines  or  other  apparatus,  without  some  assurance 
of  the  continuance  of  sufficient  annual  appropriations.  It 
ought  not  to  be  necessary  to  write  down  such  business  commonplaces 
as  these,  for  these  are  the  every  day  practice  of  business  concerns  the 
world  over,  and  yet  too  often  these  very  simple  and  obvious  rules  are 
ignored  or  wholly  forgotten.  We  must  remember  that  the  business 
side  of  a  college  must  be  conducted  on  business  principles,  and  these 
must  be  rigidly  observed  by  both  trustee  and  faculty. 

"7.  Should  the  trustees  of  all  institutions,  public  and  private 
alike,  be  required  by  law  to  file  full  financial  statements  with  some 
public  authority  and  publish  the  same  ? ' ' 

/  am  a  believer  in  publicity,  and  favor  the  suggestion  for  both  state 
and  private  colleges. 

In  state  institutions,  publicity  is  required  by  law.  There  is  no 
valid  reason  why  the  same  practice  should  not  prevail  in  regard  to 
private  colleges  and  universities,  and  it  would  certainly  tend  to  greater 
carefulness.  Moreover,  it  would  inspire  greater  confidence  in  the 
trustees  on  the  part  of  the  public  were  it  known  that  all  their  actions 
were  to  be  made  public  in  an  official  manner. 

"8.  Should  the  alumni  have  some  formally  recognized  place  in 
the  scheme  of  government  of  the  institution?     If  so,  what? 

Give  the  alumni  some  representation  on  the  board  of  trustees. 

The  growing  practice  in  both  state  and  private  colleges  of  electing 
alumni  to  membership  on  the  board  of  trustees,  is  to  be  commended. 
In  the  private  institutions,  this  is  a  matter  which  can  easily  be  regu- 
'lated  by  a  rule  of  the  board  itself,  but  in  state  institutions,  since  there 
can  be  no  rule  or  law  upon  this  point,  all  that  can  be  done  is  for  the 
alumni  to  be  sufficiently  active  and  influential  to  secure  the  nomina- 


(62) 


63 

tion  of  graduates  of  the  institution.  In  Nebraska  this  has  given  us 
one  or  more  alumni  on  the  board  for  many  years. 

"Should  the  student  body  have  formal  recognition  in  the  scheme 
of  government  by  being  privileged  to  appoint  representatives  to  any 
disciplinary  or  administrative  body?" 

The  ''student  body''  is  a  community  in  which  the  intelligent  and  ac- 
tive life  of  the  individual  is  too  short  to  make  it  available  in  any  perma- 
nently helpful  way.  Freshmen  are  too  timid;  sophomores  do  not  under- 
stand the  college  problems;  juniors  and  seniors  might  render  some  help, 
but  they  soon  leave  college. 

In  my  opinion,  based  upon  fifteen  years  of  experience  with  it, 
"student  government,"  so-called,  is  impracticable  in  so  far  as  perma- 
nent results  are  concerned.  I  took  prominent  part  in  a  prolonged 
attempt  to  secure  a  condition  in  which  the  students  could  and  would 
govern  themselves.  It  was  fairly  successful  only  as  long  as  the 
faculty  watched  every  step  taken  by  the  student  officers.  When  we 
relaxed  our  watchfulness  the  "government"  fell  into  nocuous  desue- 
tude. 

In  all  this  talk  about  the  desirability  of  having  the  students  take 
some  part  in  the  government  of  the  college,  there  is  the  feeling  that  in 
some  way  wherever  there  is  government  it  must  be  a  representative 
government  in  order  that  individual  rights  may  be  secure,  and  the 
"consent  of  the  governed"  attained.  Now,  we  may  as  well  under- 
stand first  as  last  that  there  are  a  great  many  places  in  even  the  most 
democratic  society  where  "representation  "  is  impracticable,  and  where 
the  "governed"  are  not  competent  to  have  any  voice  in  the  govern- 
ment, or  even  if  competent,  do  not  want  to  be  bothered  about  the 
matter.  We  cannot  run  railway  trains  or  steamships  with  their 
hundreds  of  passengers  by  a  committee  of  the  passengers.  When  I 
go  on  board  of  either,  I  am  too  busy  with  my  own  affairs  to  be  willing  to 
"work  my  way"  by  taking  part  in  the  management.  So  too  it  is 
with  the  college  boy.  He  expects  us  to  manage  things,  himself  in- 
cluded, and  he  rarely  has  time  to  turn  to  in  order  to  take  part  in  what 
is  manifestly  our  own  business,  that  is,  the  business  of  the  faculty 
and  the  trustees. 

"10.  Is  it  possible  to  devise  uniform  methods  of  bookkeeping  and 
statistics,  so  as  to  make  comparisons  more  valuable?" 

/  should  like  to  see  greater  uniformity  in  the  bookkeeping  of  the  col- 
leges, and  no  doubt  much  improvement  may  be  brought  about  by  a  proper 
committee. 

This  is  a  matter  for  the  bookkeepers,  and  all  that  we  need  do  here 
is  to  arrange  that  they  and  the  president  shall  take  up  the  matter. 


(63) 


64 

Additional  Remarks  by  Professor  Forbes 

I  have  been  asked  by  the  program  committee  of  this  conference  to 
add  to  this  paper,  in  the  absence  of  its  distinguished  author,  anything 
which  mav  seem  to  me  to  be  cahed  for  by  way  of  discussion.  I  am 
pleased  to  be  able  to  approve  it  most  heartily  in  general,  with  some 
exceptions  in  details,  however,  one  or  two  of  which  will  presently  be 
made. 

Especially  I  approve  it  as  exhibiting  a  symmetrical,  well-balanced 
plan  of  a  university  organization,  drawn  by  a  man  who  has  had  much 
personal  experience  in  all  parts  of  it,  who  has  lived  virtually  his  whole 
life  in  an  American  university,  and  who  is  able,  consequently,  to  look 
a.t  it  intelligently  and  fairly,  from  all  points  of  view;  and  I  would  have 
you  contrast  it  with  that  view  of  university  organization,  sometimes 
held  up  to  us,  which  shows  us  a  Brobdingnagian  president,  a  common- 
sized  board  of  trustees,  and  a  Lilliputian  faculty — a  view  evidently 
due  to  a  radically  wrong  perspective,  and  which  gives  us  no  proper 
understanding  of  right  relations  and  proportions. 

What  is  the  real,  the  vital,  the  essential  work  of  a  university,  that 
for  which  alone  it  has  been  established  and  for  which  it  is  maintained, 
that  for  which  all  else  exists  and  to  which  all  else  must  be  subordi- 
nated? And  where  is  this  work  done  and  who  are  the  real  doers  of  it? 
It  is  the  work  of  education  and  research,  done  in  lecture-rooms  and 
laboratories  and  libraries,  and  by  the  members  of  the  university 
faculty.  Whatever  improves  and  strengthens  this  faculty,  whatever 
best  organizes  its  various  abilities  and  makes  them  most  effective  for 
the  university  service,  is  good;  whatever  tends  to  weaken  it,  to  sup- 
press, to  depress,  to  disorganize  it,  is  bad.  This  is  the  test  by  which 
to  try  every  proposition  in  university  administration  and  develop- 
ment. And  what  is  this  faculty,  and  of  whom  is.it  composed?  It  is 
presumably — and  such  it  should  certainly  be  made — a  body  of  strong 
capable,  well-trained,  well-organized  men  and  women,  themselves  the 
picked  product,  the  very  flower,  of  the  educational  processes  and  in- 
stitutions of  which  they  have  now  become  the  active  agents  for  the 
education  of  others.  If  they  are  not  worthy  and  well  developed  and 
well  trained,  then  the  whole  scheme  of  the  higher  education  is  a  blun- 
der, for  they  are  its  final  outcome.  It  is  because  I  believe  in  univer- 
sity education,  and  hence  in  the  university  facultv  as  its  main  and 
most  important  agent,  that  I  am  led  to  respectfully  dissent  from 
Dean  Bessey's  recommendation  that  the  president  should  be  given  a 
veto  power  over  deliberate  and  well-considered  faculty  action. 

The  president's  position  of  advantage  in  most  American  univer- 
sities, in  that  he  speaks  for  the  faculty  in  trustee  meetings  and  for  the 
trustees  in  faculty  meetings;  in  that  he  powerfuUv  influences,  if  he 
does  not  virtually  control,  appointment  to  the  facultv  itself,  promotion 
in  it,  and  removal  from  it;  in  that  he  stands  at  the  center  of  university 

(64) 


65 

intelligence,  and  is  presumably  gifted  beyond  the  ordinary  in  diplo- 
matic capacity,  in  a  knowledge  of  human  nature,  and  in  the  manage- 
ment of  men,  insures  him  all  the  power  over  faculty  action  which  any 
executive  officer — which  any  one  man — ought  to  have ;  and  if  we  add 
to  this  the  fact  that  he  is  free  to  comment  to  the  trustees  on  any  action 
which  the  faculty  may  send  up  to  trustee  sessions,  and  that  there  is 
no  one  to  defend  the  faculty  position  if  he  attacks  it  there,  we  shall  see, 
I  am  sure,  that  this  legislative  body  needs  rather  to  be  strengthened 
in  the  interests  of  its  own  efficiency  than  to  be  weakened  still  further 
by  giving  greater  power  over  it  to  its  own  executive. 

If  this  were  the  final  session  of  this  body,  I  should  be  tempted  to 
ask  the  privilege  of  saying  a  few  words  on  the  university  budget  sys- 
tem, in  the  light  of  Dean  Bessey's  suggestions,  but  this  subject  will  no 
doubt  be  fully  covered  under  another  topic  on  your  program. 


DISCUSSION 

Mr.  Henry  H.  Hilton 
Trustee  of  Dartmouth  College 

Because  of  Dr.  Bessey's  high  standing  as  an  educator  and  his  long 
experience,  I  have  great  respect  for  his  opinion  on  all  of  these  questions 
and  I  find  mvself  in  accord  with  many  of  his  conclusions.  Some  I 
should  modify  and  some,  in  my  judgment,  need  emphasis. 

Should  the  president  be  the  sole  advisory  authority?  From  the 
standpoint  of  a  business  man,  the  answer  to  this  question  seems  clear 
to  me.  Most  large  business  enterprises  to-day  have  their  boards  of 
directors  but  also  their  presidents,  through  whom  all  matters  are 
brought  to  the  attention  of  the  boards.  The  president  is  held  re- 
sponsible for  results  and  accountable  if  results  are  unsatisfactory. 
And  so  with  any  institution  of  learning.  While  it  is  to.  be  assumed 
that  the  trustees  will  inform  themselves  through  the  faculty  or  other- 
wise, and  while  it  is  to  be  assumed  that  the  successful  president  will 
advise  with  his  faculty  and  endeavor  to  cooperate  with  them,  yet  he 
and  he  alone  must  be  the  head ;  and  whenever  a  majority  of  the  board 
lose  confidence  in  the  judgment  of  the  president  or  when  it  becomes 
clear  that  affairs  are  going  wrong,  it  is  time  to  look  for  a  new  man  for 
the  position.  I  see  no  advantage  in  Dr.  Bessey's  suggestion  that  the 
president's  veto  should  be  overruled  by  a  three-fourths'  or  four-fifths' 
vote  of  the  faculty.  A  wise  president  would  commonly  yield  to  the 
views  of  a  large  majority  of  his  faculty,  but  in  special  cases  where  he 
felt  it  essential  that  his  views  prevail  his  word  should  be  final. 

As  to  the  publicity  of  financial  statements,  the  wisdom  of  such 
action  can  hardly  be  emphasized  too  much.  As  regards  all  institu- 
tions in  which  the  public  have  a  direct  interest,  mismanagement  and 
errors  of  judgment  ultimately  may  assume  proportions  which  mean 
disaster  to  the  institution  and  its  officers,  and  these  might  be  antici- 

(65) 


66 

pated  and  avoided  were  periodical  public  statements  the  practice. 
Instances  come  to  mind  where  public  school  funds  have  been  em- 
bezzled and  college  endowments  seriously  impaired  by  being  wrong- 
fully used  in  the  payment  of  current  expenses  because  incompetent  or 
dishonest  men  were  in  charge  and  there  was  no  accounting  to  anybody 
of  the  distribution  of  the  money.  Any  man  can  profit  by  advice.  No 
man  is  too  honest  for  supervision. 

Should  the  student  body  have  formal  recognition  in  the  scheme  of 
government?  Dr.  Bessey  has  the  negative  opinion  and  many  will 
agree  with  him.  Still  I  was  reading  only  the  other  day  a  statement 
from  Wellesley  where  student  government  has  been  in  \'ogue  for  four 
years  and  they  are  enthusiastic  over  its  results,  and  I  know  of  other 
institutions  where  the  students  are  participating  more  or  less  with  dif- 
ferent degrees  of  success.  On  the  whole,  I  am  inclined  to  believe  that 
such  participation  has  a  place  in  most  institutions. 

Would  uniform  statistics  be  of  assistance?  As  a  business  proposi- 
tion this  appeals  to  me  as  being  sound.  Whenev.er  similar  lines  of 
work  are  being  conducted  in  different  parts  of  the  country  where  the 
results  sought  for  are  much  the  same,  statistics  are  invaluable.  Com- 
parison is  sure  to  lead  to  a  better  general  average,  helping  as  it  will  to 
show  weaknesses  and  emphasizing  better  methods. 

What  should  be  the  relation  of  the  alumni  to  the  institution  ?  The 
question  appeals  to  me  as  vitally  important.  A  college  or  university 
fails  to  attain  its  largest  success  without  the  sympathetic  cooperation 
of  faculty,  president  and  alumni.  The  alumni  will  not,  cannot  sustain 
their  interest  without  the  opportunity  for  active  participation  in  the 
affairs  of  the  college,  and  general  participation  is  only  possible  by 
alumni  representation  on  the  board  of  trustees.  In  addition  to  the 
regular  duties  of  such  trustees,  it  is  my  conception  that  they  should 
see  to  it  especially  that  the  alumni  scattered  in  various  directions 
should  be  reached  personally  where  it  is  possible,  or  by  correspondence, 
made  cognizant  of  changes  and  plans  for  developing  the  institution, 
and  encouraged  to  make  occasional  pilgrimages  to  their  alma  mater. 
If  this  is  done,  their  children  are  likely  to  follow  in  the  footsteps  of  the 
parents.  Such  a  consituency  is  peculiarly  valuable  because  the  boy 
or  girl  has  an  appreciation  of  conditions  and  a  knowledge  and  sym- 
pathy with  traditions  which  strengthen  enthusiasm  and  kindle  love, 
no  small  considerations  in  an  undergraduate  body.  And  besides  the 
children,  one's  money,  where  there  is  money  to  give,  will  have  a  ten- 
dency to  revert  to  the  college  where  one  obtained  his  preparation  for 
life  and  his  capacity  for  amassing  wealth,  and  very  properly.  Apart 
from  the  importance  of  such  a  constituency  per  se,  a  geographically 
diversified  constituency  is  recognized  everywhere  as  a  valuable  leaven, 
and  while  any  institution  expects  that  the  great  majority  of  its  stu- 
dent bodv  w411  come  from  its  own  state  or  vicinity,  the  alumni  if  active 

(66) 


67 

will  help  to  enkirge  the  percentage  from  abroad.  Then,  too,  that  in- 
tangible something  called  "college  spirit,"  which  is  hard  to  explain 
but  which  means  much  to  the  individualwho  understands  the  feeling, 
the  joy  of  being  part  of  a  noble  body  of  high  minded,  cultivated  people, 
standing  together  like  brothers  or  sisters,  with  a  pride  in  the  alma 
mater  which  acts  as  a  stimulus  to  higher  ideals, — such  a  spirit  can  be 
developed  and  intensified  if  the  alumni  are  made  to  feel  that  thev  are 
needed  and  expected  in  the  management  of  the  institution.  Unless 
the  interest  of  the  alumni  is  maintained,  graduates  drift  away,  acquire 
new  interests,  form  new  affiliations,  send  their  children  to  other  insti- 
tutions, and  in  all  probability  the  money  goes  where  the  children  go. 

Alumni  representation  is  no  longer  an  experiment.  It  has  gradu- 
ally come  into  vogue  in  the  east  and  is  at  present  practiced  in  most  of 
the  institutions  of  importance  on  the  Atlantic  seaboard  and  vicinity, 
and,  so  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  ascertain,  it  is  enthusiastically  en- 
dorsed by  all  who  are  interested  and  is  accomplishing  the  desired  re- 
sults. I  look  for  the  general  adoption  of  the  plan  among  the  remain- 
ing institutions  in  the  East  and  the  non-state  colleges  of  the  West. 

It  seems  to  me  that  what  is  good  for  these  private  institutions  in 
this  regard  should  be  equally  applicable  to  the  state  universities. 
Such  institutions  I  suppose  are  desirous  of  reaching  beyond  the  bor- 
ders of  their  states  for  their  attendance,  especially  among  the  children 
of  the  alumni;  and  in  matter  of  bequests,  while  their  principal  support 
is  expected  to  come  from  state  funds,  I  have  not  observed  that  any 
bequests  to  state  institutions  are  being  declined,  and  I  look  for  such 
bequests  to  grow  in  number.  Alumni  representatives  on  the  board 
would  have  their  beneficial  influence  in  these  and  other  matters.  In 
some  instances  which  I  recall  state  institutions  have  suffered  seriously 
because  their  affairs  have  gotten  into  state  politics,  a  danger  that  can 
never  wholly  disappear  where  the  entire  body  of  trustees  are  elected 
by  popular  vote  or  appointed  by  the  governor.  As  a  resident  of  Illi- 
nois interested  in  the  continued  rapid  progress  of  this  institution,  I 
should  welcome  such  a  change  in  the  law,  if  such  were  possible,  that 
the  University  of  Illinois  might  lead  her  sister  universities  in  this 
movement  for  alumni  representation  elected  by  the  alumni;  and  even 
if  the  law  remains  unchanged,  I  shall  hope  for  such  active  interest  on 
the  part  of  the  alumni  as  to  insure  alumni  representation  on  the  board 
to  the  extent  of  several  members. 


(67) 


68 

STATE  SUPERVISION  OF  ENDOWMENT  FUNDS 

Mr.  J.  P.  LipPiNCOTT 

Trustee  of  Illinois  College 

Should  the  trustees  of  all  institutions,  public  and  private  alike,  be 
required  by  law  to  file  full  financial  statements  with  some  public 
authority  and  publish  the  same?     To  my  mind  the  answer  is,  Yes.    • 

Why  should  the  people  of  the  State  of  Illinois  enact  a  law  requiring 
the  trustees  of  private  institutions  to  make  report  of  their  expendi- 
tures and  publish  the  same?  They  a,ct  without  compensation  and 
often  at  considerable  expense  of  time,  money  and  convenience.  To 
justify  such  a  law,  there  should  be  pointed  out  some  characteristic  of 
human  nature  that  is  deep  seated  and  ungovernable,  save  under  the 
pressure  of  necessity  of  meeting  the  animadversion  of  every  possible 
critic.  There  should  be  given  some  reason  as  broad,  as  comprehensive, 
and  as  far  seeing  as  the  highest  statesmanship  can  give  for  the  enact- 
ment of  any  law;  some  reason  which  honorable,  conscientious,  benevo- 
lent men  can  admit  to  be  good  without  seeming  to  lessen  their  own 
self  respect.  It  will  be  the  effort  of  this  paper  to  point  out  such  a 
characteristic  of  human  nature ;  to  give  a  reason  that  is  a  fundamental 
and,  hence,  answering  all  the  very  severe  requirements  just  stated. 

Let  me  first  make  the  very  broad  assertion  that,  in  my  opinion, 
every  private  endowed  college  in  the  State  of  Illinois  that  has  been  in 
existence  twenty  years  or  more,  would  to-day  have  from  two  to  ten 
times  its  present  available  endowment,  had  such  a  law,  with  appro- 
priate sanctions,  been  in  force  during  the  period  of  its  existence.  In 
modification  of  this  assertion  let  me  say  that  I  do  not  refer  to  institu- 
tions which  have  a  foster  father,  ever  ready  to  supply  funds;  but  to 
those  institutions  dependent  upon  such  occasional  gifts  as  may  come 
from  benevolently  inclined  persons  who  at  the  same  time  do  not  feel 
the  responsibility  of  foster  fathers. 

A  lawyer,  in  whose  presence  I  may  well  rise  and  stand  uncovered 
out  of  respect  for  his  years,  learning,  and  influence,  made  the  state- 
ment in  my  hearing  that  the  institution  is  a  trust  to  be  carried  on  with 
the  available  funds  as  best  it  can  and  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  trustees 
to  keep  the  institution  going  while  the  funds  last,  depending  upon 
benevolently  disposed  people  of  wealth  to  make  further  contributions 
to  the  endowment  fund  and  thus  send  the  institution  forward  to  the 
next  generation.  Other  abler  lawyers  than  the  speaker  have  practi- 
cally adopted  this  view.  They  overlook  the  fact  that  the  same  trus- 
tees have  separate  trusts,  as  distinct  in  the  attendant  obligations  as 
though  the  separate  trusts  were  given  to  distinct  boards;  that  the 
institutional  life  is  one  trust,  while  the  principal  of  the  endowmnet 
fund  is  a  distinct  trust.  They  have  no  right  to  consume  the  body  of 
one  trust  in  order  to  keep  the  other  alive. 

(68) 


69 

Another  lawyer  said  to  the  speaker:  "I  cHd  not  suppose  the  trust- 
ees were  bound  to  preserve  the  endowment  fund.  I  supposed  it  was 
just  money  given  to  the  college  and  they  could  do  what  they  pleased 
with  it."  And  I  must  take  off  my  hat  to  him  in  recognition  of  his 
greater  success.  As  illustrating  the  practical  working  of  this  view, 
let  me  mention  an  institution  in  this  State,  not  my  own,  however, 
which  I  am  informed  has  now  only  half  the  endowment  which  it  had 
two  years  ago.  I  am  informed  that  the  fund  has  been  directlv  drawn 
upon  for  current  expenses.  This  institution  has  a  good  lawyer  on 
its  board  of  trustees,  if  I  am  correctly  informed.  And  yet,  the  supreme 
court  of  this  state  announced,  in  deciding  a  case  to  which  that  insti- 
tution was  a  party,  that  if  the  funds  were  insufficient  to  produce  an 
income  with  w^hich  the  school  could  be  conducted,  it  was  the  duty  of 
the  trustees  to  let  the  fund  accumulate  until  it  should  be  sufficient. 
Views  similarly  mistaken,  arising  from  a  somewhat  careless  assump- 
tion, without  investigation,  may  be  met  in  everv  bodv  of  men  concern- 
ing subjects  that  are  to  them  side  issues  to  their  regular  business. 
And  such  mistaken  views  have  to  do  with,  but  do  not  constitute,  the 
characteristic  of  human  nature,  the  broad  and  comprehensive  reason 
for  the  proposed  law,  of  which  we  are  in  search. 

There  is  a  tendency  in  human  nature  separating  the  human  family 
into  two  classes,  the  one  loyal  to  an  idea  or  principle,  the  other  to  a 
person;  let  us  point  to  the  workings  of  this  tendency  in  the  practical 
affairs  of  to-day.  Turn  where  you  will  in  the  affairs  of  man  and  you 
will  find  the  personal  embodiment  of  a  will  and  purpose  much  more 
potent  in  accomplishing  practical  results  than  any  principle  which 
ought  to  be  adhered  to.  Said  a  very  intelligent  and  able  financier, 
then  but  not  now  on  the  same  board  with  me;  "We  cannot  refuse  to 
follow  the  president's  recommendations  unless  we  are  ready  to  break 
with  him. "  I  did  not  wish  to  break  with  the  president,  but  a  certain 
recommendation  seemed  to  me  to  be  bad  policv  for  the  college.  I 
was  for  discussing  the  matter  and,  if  in  the  judgment  of  the  board  the 
movement  was  unwise,  it  seemed  to  me  that  it  should  not  be  made; 
but  I  found  that  I  was  speaking  out  in  a  meeting  where  I  was  not 
expected  to  interrupt.  And  so  you  will  discern,  if  you  notice,  that  in 
this  busy  day  autocratic  leadership  is  the  rule. 

The  trustees  of  our  colleges  are  simply  men,  very  high-minded  and 
and  honorable  men,  in  the  main,  but  men  who,  in  genreal,  will  simply 
act  out  their  natures.  If  there  was  always  a  monitor  present  to 
admonish  them  of  their  duty  and  obligation,  to  point  out  a  principle 
absolutely  binding  upon  their  consicences,  they  would  rise  from  fol- 
lowing the  lead  of  persons  to  independent  action  upon  principle. 
But  the  principle  of  which  they  are  not  frequently  admonished  be- 
comes shadowy  and  lost  sight  of.  They  give  themselves  to  the  per- 
sonal leadership  of  the  current  administration.     They  are  hoping  for 

(69) 


70 

some  gift  or  gifts  to  place  the  institution  on  a  solid  foundation  and 
make  spasmodic  efforts  to  accomplish  that  desideratum.  In  the  mean 
time  the  present  necessities  of  the  faculty  require  a  slight  deficit  and 
with  the  same  illusive  hope  that  defeats  so  many  in  the  quest  of  for- 
tune, they  trv  to  keep  things  going,  to  keep  up  appearances,  and  are 
deaf  and  blind  to  the  legitimate  consequences.  If  very  technical, 
they  mav  formally  borrow  from  the  endowment  fund  and  execute  the 
note  of  the  institution  therefor,  or  may  resort  to  some  other  subter- 
fuge, just  temporarily.  Time  passes.  The  personnel  of  the  board 
changes.  The  administration,  it  may  be,  changes.  The  persons  now 
carrying  on  the  institution  are  not  those  who  created  the  indebtedness 
and  are  not  responsible  for  it.  The  whole  thing  belongs  to  the  past, 
and  may  as  well  be  charged  out.  It  is  charged  out.  Then  the  pro- 
cess repeats  itself, — itself,  mind  you!  With  human  nature  as  it  is, 
this  process  is  almost  as  certain  to  be  repeated  as  are  the  seasons  to 
follow  in  due  course.  The  nearness  of  the  persons  who  want  the  things 
done  that  can  be  done  only  by  accumulating  an  indebtedness,  eventu- 
ally to  be  paid  out  of  the  principal  fund,  the  remoteness  of  the  obliga- 
tion not  to  incur  this  indebtedness,  except  upon  the  individual  respon- 
sibilitv  of  the  persons  incurring  it,  the  instinctive  fealty  to  persons 
rather  than  principles,  all  go  to  make  it  certain  that  the  college  will  be 
kept  going  while  the  principal  of  the  endovv'ment  fund  lasts.  These 
make  it  certain,  also,  that  from  time  to  time  the  expenses  will  exceed 
the  income  of  the  institution.  Only  while  you  have  an  administration 
able  to  procure  funds  in  excess  of  expenditures  will  the  endowment 
fund  grow;  and  then  it  will  be  a  changing  fund,  the  new  coming  in 
more  rapidly  than  the  old  goes  out.  These  general  statements  are 
made  rather  than  to  do  the  unpleasant  thing.  It  would  be  an  un- 
gracious thing  to  give  statistics  at  such  a  gathering.  I  am  sure  the 
trustees  of  everv  private  college  here  represented  can  acknowledge  that 
in  a  general  way  these  statements  may  be  true.  Here  again  is  loyalty 
to  persons  greater  than  loyalty  to  principle.  Who  wants  to  stir  up 
troubles  of  this  sort?  Few  care  to  do  so  ungracious  a  thing.  Yet, 
would  not  the  courts  hold  trustees  responsible  as  for  a  breach  of  trust, 
when  they  thus  consume  the  body  of  their  trust  ? 

My  voice  is  for  a  statute  requiring  the  trustees  of  each  institu- 
tion, having  an  endowment  fund,  to  give  an  annual  statement  of  re- 
ceipts and  expenditures  under  each  head  to  be  filed  with  the  appro- 
priate public  officer  and  to  be  published.  I  would  suggest,  further,  that 
the  a  umni  association,  whether  incorporated  or  not,  of  each  institu- 
tion have  the  right  from  time  to  time  to  inspect,  by  appropriate  com- 
mittee, the  condition  of  the  investments  of  the  endowment  fund  of 
their  respective  institutions.  The  statute  should  make  the  trustees, 
or  administration,  personally  liable  for  every  misuse  of  the  principal 
of  the  endowment  fund.     If  any,   familiar  with  the  law  of  trusts, 

(70) 


71 

smile  at  thus  restating  in  statute  form  what  is  really,  in  the  main,  the 
law  already,  it  may  be  said  that  few  know  it  to  be  the  law  and  fewer 
still,  who  know  the  law,  understand  its  application  to,  or  are  interested 
in,  a  particular  institution. 

Objection  may  be  made  to  requiring  private  institutions  to  make 
their  affairs  public.  Every  private  institution  is  very  anxious  to  be  in 
the  public  eye  with  its  best  dress  on.  It  will  have  a  wholesome  effect 
if,  seen  in  its  working  clothes,  the  working  clothes  shall  be  found  to  be 
in  good  condition.  But  they  are  not  private  institutions  in  this  sense. 
They  are  institutions  chartered  by  the  legislature  and  authorized  to 
accept  funds  in  trust  for  endowment  purposes.  They  hold  in  their 
custodv  funds  dedicated  to  the  endowment  of  the  institutions,  the 
principal  for  investment  in  interest  bearing  securities,  the  income  for 
expenditure  in  the  cause  of  education,  dedicated,  it  may  be,  by  persons 
long  since  dead.  In  this  busy  world  there  is  no  one  to  see  that  the 
trustees  are  faithful  to  their  trust  unless  the  law  provides  some  one. 
Moreover,  the  state  itself  is  not  dealing  fairly  with  the  small  colleges 
when  it  maintains,  at  public  expense,  a  great  institution  to  do  what 
the  small  colleges  can  do  better.  Some  great  mind,  such  as  Mr.  Web- 
ster displaved  in  the  Dartmouth  College  case,  should  demonstrate 
what  is  simply  fact,  that  in  spirit,  the  maintaining  of  this  institution 
for  undergraduate  work  is  in  violation  of  the  implied  contract  with  the 
founders  of  these  private  chartered  institutions;  that  the  state  would 
foster  and  not  undermine  them.  Ordinarv  good  faith  requires  that 
the  legislature  shall  from  time  to  time  throw  about  these  institutions, 
and  the  funds  committed  to  them,  everv  additional  safeguard  which 
experience  shows  to  be  necessarv  and  wise. 

Let  it  be  known  that  the  funds  will,  be  preserved  and  will  remain 
an  everlasting  influence,  and  you  will  have  removed  the  great  obstacle 
to  many  a  generous  impulse.  The  fear  that  the  endowment  will  not 
be  permanent  deters  man  v. 


UXIVERSITY  INVESTMENTS  AND  ACCOUNTING 

Mr.  Wallace  Heckman 
Counsel  and  Business  Manager  of  the  University  of  Chicago 

So  far  as  the  investments  of  an  institution  are  in  real  estate,  sure  to 
constitute  a  substantial  and  increasing  part,  the  accounting  sustains 
an  intimate  relation  to  the  investment  itself,  and  is  an  important 
factor  in  the  ultimate  result  of  advantage  or  disappointment.  In 
these  accounts  the  ledger  page  contains  columns  which  will  enable  the 
bookkeeper  to  draw  oft'  at  any  instant  a  statement  of  the  special  items 
entering  into  the  expense  account,  for  the  purpose  of  comparison  with 
each  other,  and  the  enforcement  in  all  of  the  economies  realized  in 
any  particular  case;  for  instance,  items  of  taxes,  insurance,  building 

(71) 


72 

repairs,  heating  apparatus,  machinery,  elevators,  electric  light,  water, 
electrical,  janitors'  and  engineers'  supplies,  decorating,  sprinkling, 
hauling  ashes  and  garbage,  fuel,  light,  wages  of  engineers  and  elevator- 
men,  and  miscellaneous  charges.  As  each  item  of  expenditure  is 
audited  on  the  voucher  check  it  falls  into  its  class  and  into  its  place  on 
the  ledger  page,  enabling  the  agent  in  charge,  or  business  manager,  or 
finance  committee,  from  a  glance  at  the  ledger,  or  a  statement  easily 
drawn  from  it,  to  note  unusual  expenditures  or  unfavorable  compari- 
sons of  similar  items.  Similarly  the  rental  register  shows  upon  a 
single  page  the  property,  the  tenant,  the  rent  for  the  several  months, 
— a  glance  disclosing  whether  the  tenant  is  in  arrears.  This  fragment 
of  the  accounting  facilitates  economy,  detects  waste,  prevents  arrear- 
age and  loss.  The  multitudinous  accounts  upon  the  books  with  regis- 
trars, colleges,  superintendents  of  commons,  agents,  temporary 
advances,  university  press,  book  stores,  subsidy  books,  budgets,  and 
the  long  list  of  special  endowment  funds  present  problems  peculiar  to 
these  institutions. 

Commercial  and  mercantile  establishments  desire  to  know  at  a 
glance  each  day  the  actual  value  of  their  plant,  their  property,  equip- 
ment, available  cash,  etc.  With  the  institution  this  is  altogether 
different.  Its  buildings  and  grounds,  its  books,  scientific  apparatus, 
and  furniture,  may  constitute  an  aggregate  cost  of  a  vast  sum.  Their 
realizable  value  might  be  but  a  meager  fraction  of  it.  This  is  a  matter 
of  indifference  to  the  finance  committee.  A -statement  each  month, 
therefore,  such  as  banks  and  business  houses  make,  would  have  no 
significance  or  value  here.  The  monthly  balance  sheet  shows  the 
permanent  investments  in  the  buildings,  grounds,  books,  apparatus, 
furniture,  and  capital  used  in  current  assets.  Beyond  this  the  problem 
is  to  show  in  the  briefest  and  most  condensed  form,  classified  so  as  to 
make  clear  the  condition  of  the  special  endowment  accounts,  the 
amount  of  cash  on  hand  for  investment  or  with  agents,  registrars, 
managers,  and  temporary  advances,  classified  and  grouped;  invest- 
ments in  the  press,  laboratory  supplies,  subsidy  books,  collections, 
income  accrued,  accounts  due  and  payable;  in  other  words,  items  of 
cash  and  items  not  cash,  similarly  classified  and  the  aggregate  shown. 
Next,  there  must  be  shown  the  amount  of  unexpended  budget  items 
listed  and  aggregated.  The  analysis  of  the  condensed  balance  sheet 
divides  its  items  into  capital  items  and  cash  items  by  which  it  can  be 
seen  at  a  glance  the  balance  of  cash,  or  any  need  at  any  particular 
date,  to  see  what  relation  they  bear  to  the  total  expenditures  of  the 
year  in  order  to  be  certain  that  the  expenditures  do  not  exceed  the 
budget.  This  involves  an  examination  of  the  amount  of  revenue 
derived  and  that  expected  for  the  balance  of  the  year,  and  a  compari- 
son should  be  so  made  as  to  ascertain  whether  expenditures  in  excess  of 


(72) 


73 

those  provided  for  have  been  made  so  that  the  variation,  if  any,  shall 
be  provided  for  or  prevented. 

The  services  of  expert  accountants  are  required  to  audit  these 
intricate  and  complicated  accounts,  but  in  addition  to  the  prevention 
of  errors  or  irregularities  in  any  of  these  various  sets  of  books  and 
accounts,  he  renders  the  invaluable  service  of  seeing  to  it  that  the  best 
methods  are  adopted  in  the  various  departments;  in  addition  to  this, 
his  clear  statement  supplements  that  of  the  university  auditor  in  mak- 
ing plain  the  financial  situation. 

The  investment  and  management  of  the  funds  and  propertv  con- 
stituting the  endowments  of  adequate,  modern,  educational  institu- 
tions differs  in  a  few  particulars  from  the  like  service  in  connection 
with  the  great  insurance,  guarantee,  and  saving  concerns.  To  a 
greater  extent  than  either  of  the  latter,  however,  this  investor  is  in- 
different to  the  quality  of  quick  merchantability  of  its  assets.  If  he 
has  advantages  over  such  concerns,  they,  as  well  as  the  university, 
have  advantages  over  the  broker,  the  merchants,  and  the  ordinary 
investors  in  securities.  The  quality  of  easy  and  quick  realization  is 
so  attractive  to  the  broker  and  the  temporary  and  spasmodic  investor 
in  stocks  and  bonds,  that  the  bonds  of  great  railw^ay  corporations,  and 
similar  concerns,  which  are  listed  on  the  great  exchanges,  the  market 
value  of  which  is  daily  published  in  the  newspapers  and  bulletins,  are 
such  as  to  enhance  their  value  and  therefore  to  reduce  the  income 
upon  them  to  three  and  one-half  or  even  three  per  cent.,  a  rate  which 
would  require  a  vast  endowment  for  an  ordinary  institution.  The 
contingencies  of  business,  the  equipment  of  speculations  or  emergen- 
cies of  trade,  do  not  exist  in  the  case  of  the  university.  The  security 
must  be  unquestionably  adequate  and  of  a  permanent  character.  The 
particular  holding  may  be  large  in  amount  or  may  extend  for  a  long 
period.  The  university  investor  adopts  the  policy  of  offering  consider- 
able sums  in  single  holdings  for  long  periods  of  time  at  the  lowest 
possible  expense  to  the  borrower,  but  securing  the  higher  rate  of  in- 
terest accorded  to  this  class  of  investments.  Even  then  he  finds 
himself  compelled  to  carry  considerable  sums  in  railway  and  other 
bonds.  He  may  do  this  to  keep  his  funds  invested,  since  these  are 
always  to  be  had  at  the  market  rate,  but,  in  the  second  place,  he  may 
do  it  for  the  purpose  of  having  in  hand  convertible  funds  with  which 
to  take  advantage  of  opportunities  for  securing  investments  particu- 
larly adapted  to  his  need,  since,  if  he  sifts  and  invests  carefully  from 
ever\"  standpoint,  covering  the  long  period  of  time  the  investment  is 
to  run,  those  which  will  pass  his  test  are  not  at  all  times  to  be  had. 

Even  in  the  general  class  above  indicated,  the  policy  of  the 
institution  will  be  likely  to  discriminate  along  cautious  lines  and 
confine  itself  within  well  considered  limits  which  observation  and 
experience,  more  or  less  serious,  have  established. 

(7.3) 


74 

Agricultural  lands  have  been  found  to  constitute  one  of  the  safest 
securities,  because  the  exercise  of  expert  knowledge  and  economy  in 
the  placing  of  these  investments,  collection  of  interest,  supervision, 
and,  if  necessary,  foreclosure  suggests  allotments  to  restricted, 
pre-determined  territories.  Structural  farm  improvements,  while 
valued  highly  by  the  owners,  the  lender  largely  ignores,  since  the  long 
term  loan  makes  difficult  the  guarantee  of  their  maintenance,  while 
the  responsibility  connected  with  insurance  and  detail  involved  in  it 
deprives  the  latter  of  any  special  interest.  On  the  other  hand,  in 
loans  in  cities,  vacant  land  is  often  wholly  disregarded  by  the  uni- 
versity investor  as  too  speculative  in  character.  Here  the  structural 
improvement  and  the  strategic  location  constitute  the  substantial 
factor.  In  the  determination  of  the  latter  qualities  the  nicest  dis- 
crimination and  the  keenest  farsightedness  are  required  in  the  placing 
of  the  substantial  sums  loaned;  since  the  active  city,  which  is  the  one 
he  seeks,  is  constantly  changing  its  center  of  trade  by  the  trend  of  new 
improvements,  by  the  recasting  of  municipal  transportation,  by  mere 
growth  itself,  breaking  away  from  old  locations  considered  to  be  the 
commercial  centers  permanently  established.  The  constant  menace 
of  change  is  such  as  to  require  the  constant  vigilance  of  the  investor 
in  mortgages  or  in  fees,  and  even  courage  at  times  to  part  with  prop- 
erty at  a  loss  which  insidious  changes  are  evidently  reducing  in  value 
and  must  continue  to  reduce.  The  policy  of  secondary  regard  to  farm 
improvements  on  the  one  hand,  and  special  attention  to  buildings  and 
location  in  the  city  investments  on  the  other,  rests  on  the  same 
reasoning.  The  substantial  value  in  the  former  is  the  soil,  in  the 
latter  the  structural  improvement  in  the  commercial,  mercantile,  and 
manufacturing  center,  each  yielding  a  revenue  of  comparatively  slight 
variation,  each  able  to  be  relied  on  even  in  adverse  periods  of  subsi- 
dence in  values,  adding  thereby  also  to  the  ultimate  realization  when 
normal  conditions  return.  To  some  investors  the  profits  accruing 
from  foreclosure  of  loans,  which  occur  with  almost  periodically  regu- 
larity, have  attractions,  and  fortunes  have  indeed  been  made  and 
other  fortunes  largely  increased,  by  the  feature  of  that  class  of  in- 
vestments; but  such  as  adopt  it  are  not  likely  to  succeed  in  it  in  the 
more  speculative  class  of  improvements,  namelv,  on  unimproved 
property  or  improved  property  not  of  the  first  order,  and  therefore, 
subject  to  the  full  effect  of  depressions.  The  policy  of  deriving  profit 
through  foreclosures  has  little,  if  any,  attraction  for  a  university. 

If  mistakes  happen  to  be  made,  excessive  loans  placed,  or  inferior 
property  acquired  by  foreclosure,  it  goes  without  saying  that  senti- 
ment in  this  particular  as  to  what  the  propertv  has  cost  the  institution, 
or  what  value  the  donor  placed  upon  it,  should  have  no  weight. 
Indeed  the  consideration  of  sentiment  should  have  no  place  in  con- 
nection with  these  investments,  except  to  preclude  loans  to  members 

.     (74) 


75 

of  faculties,  or  officers,  or  trustees,  or  possibly  alumni,  when  sentiment 
might  later  interfere  with  the  course  to  be  pursued,  if  the  investment 
shall  prove  unfortunate,  and  for  the  additional  reason  that  such  loans 
are  likely  to  be  extended  from  time  to  time  too  easily  and  until  the 
latter  event  is  at  hand. 

Prudence  will  probably  suggest  a  division  of  investments  into  real 
estate  fees,  loans,  and  bonds.  Stocks  are  regarded,  without  wisdom, 
as  of  too  speculative  a  character,  although  some  preferred  stocks  sus- 
tain to  the  property  practically  the  relation  of  bonds. 

While  the  increase  in  the  volume  of  currency  is  going  on,  fifty  per 
cent  being  added  to  it  within  a  period  of  ten  years,  that  is,  from  $21 
per  capita  to  $32,  while  the  volume  of  gold  is  being  added  to  by  the 
enormous  output  of  our  own  West,  South  Africa,  and  Klondyke,  and 
the  industries  incident  to  this,  and  to  agricultural  prosperity,  so  great 
as  to  double  the  price  of  our  corn  belt  lands,  as  well  as  that  large  fertile 
tract  parallelling  it  at  the  North,  devoted  to  more  diversified  pursuits 
and  products,  the  income  on  the  bonds,  mortgages,  and  secured  fees, 
is  steadfastly  diminishing.  This  is  true,  in  the  face  of  the  admission 
on  all  hands  that  the  salaries  of  the  staffs  of  these  institutions,  instead 
of  being  reduced,  ought  to  be  and  must  be  increased,  in  mere  justice  to 
the  importance  of  their  work  to  the  community,  and  the  increased 
demands  constantly  being  made  on  them  for  added  qualifications,  which 
again  must  be  supplemented  by  provision  for  better  and  larger  equip- 
ments, laboratories,  and  laboratory  supplies,  and  more  books  and  library 
facilities.  In  addition  to  this  a  careful  study  of  the  entire  situation 
discloses,  not  as  a  benevolence  aside  from  the  university's  educational 
purposes,  but  as  an  intimate  and  pressing  necessity  in  the  execution  of 
that  purpose,  the  desirability  of  a  studied  and  wisely  devised  system 
of  faculty  pensions. 

The  income  for  all  this  from  a  rapidly  falling  rate  on  the  ordinary 
listed  securities,  whose  attractiveness  is  their  quick  merchantability, 
forces  us  to  make  the  most  of  any  particular  advantage  we  can  fairly 
claim,  and  suggests  aggressive  activity  on  the  part  of  friends  of  edu- 
cation to  see  to  it  that  these  advantages  are  availed  of.  For  instance, 
every  facility,  it  would  seem,  ought  to  be  afforded  by  counties,  cities, 
school  districts,  and  other  municipalities  to  educational  institutions 
to  secure  municipal  and  other  public  bonds.  The  number  of  trustees 
of  these  institutions  is  necessarily  small  and  generally  those  must  be 
chosen  who  reside  conveniently  near  the  institution  and  can  attend 
the  meetings  of  the  board.  However,  committees  of  men  of  the 
highest  standing  in  all  communities  ought  to  be  secured  who  could, 
without  undue  sacrifice  of  time,  render  the  important  service  to  these 
institutions  of  seeing  to  it  that  they  have  every  advantage  in  securing 
public  and  other  appropriate  choice  investments  to  which  their  rela- 
tion to  the  public  entitles  them.      For  all  these  loyal   and  useful  ends 

(75) 


76 

I  should  like  at  this  first,  and  I  hope  not  the  last,  conference  of  college 
and  university  trustees  to  suggest  the  inquiry  whether  the  time  has 
not  arrived  when  our  universities  should  join  in  some  form  of  coopera- 
tion for  the  establishment  of  a  central  organization  for  the  purpose  of 
acquiring  through  the  most  expert  and  best  devised  courses  and 
methods  those  securities  which  by  their  character,  their  safety  and 
income,  are  adapted  to  our  needs.  In  this  larger  way  may  be  secured 
safety  and  rate  impossible  in  any' diverse  piece-meal  and  smaller  way. 
This  would  constitute  a  clearing  house,  if  you  please,  for  choice,  large, 
long-time  investments,  where  an  institution  can  secure  those  with  the 
best  guarantee  and,  on  the  other  hand,  needing  to  cash  them  for 
building  and  other  purposes,  in  turn  dispose  of  them  to  like  institu- 
tions needing  the  investment. 

There  will  be  always  among  business  men  some  who  recognize  that 
money  getting  is  an  incident  and  not  an  end ;  and  men  of  wealth  who 
are  not  satisfied  with  the  idle  conventional  display  of  it,  earnestly 
devoted  to  the  cause  of  education,  and  alive  to  its  importance,  who 
consider  that  their  best  service  will  be  to  pursue  with  undivided  aim 
its  acquisition,  and  in  the  end  through  gifts  or  final  bequest,  give  evi- 
dence of  this  large  purpose.  But  there  are  others  among  the  foremost 
of  our  great  merchants,  manufacturers,  and  financiers,  builders  of 
fortunes,  particularly  those  who  have  had  university  advantages  and 
consequent  university  ideals — and  the  number  is  increasing  as  edu- 
cational advantages  increase — who  regard  these  matters  as  worthy  of 
their  best  attention  in  their  most  active  years,  a  field  of  the  very  high- 
est usefulness,  particularly  under  our  form  of  society  and  system  of 
government;  who  regard  it  as  broadening  their  horizons,  and  as  adding 
to  their  own  lives  a  most  wholesome  and  enjoyable  interest;  who  are 
willing  to  devote  and  who  do  steadfastly  devote  a  substantial  fraction 
of  their  time  to  it;  who  attend  the  monthly  meetings  of  boards  of 
trustees  with  the  same  scrupulous  regularity  and  exactitude  with 
which  they  keep  their  business  engagements  in  their  great  commercial 
and  mercantile  concerns,  their  banks,  and  trust  companies,  and  bring 
to  bear  therein  the  same  ability,  vigilance,  and  industry  which  have 
made  them  important  and  their  own  enterprises  successful. 

A  central  committee  of  the  best  of  these  strong,  experienced  men 
from  each  university  board  constituting  a  central  organization  and 
the  instrument  of  the  universities  represented,  ought  to  give  to  all  the 
advantages  possessed  by  any  one  and  the  ability  for  service  of  each 
multiplied  by  the  weight  of  the  combination.  A  compact  body  of 
such  men  could  work  out,  execute  and  maintain  policies  of  incalculable 
advantage  in  the  conducting  of  this  business,  now  grown  by  the  ag- 
gregate of  university  endowments,  and  the  twenty  millions  lately 
devoted  to  general  college  and  university  uses,  on  lines  so  convincingly 
well  conceived  as  to  be  sure  to  attract  other  large,  similar  donations, 

(76) 


77 

in  proportions  heretofore  unthought  of,  and  of  an  intimate  public 
interest  second  to  none.  With  this  central  committee  or  organization 
t  e  active  non-resident  committee  before  mentioned  could  be  in  cor- 
respondence and  render  that  distinct  and  special  service  which  their 
influence  in  their  widely  separated  localities  would  command. 

While  in  the  educational  departments  of  our  institutions  strong 
bodies  of  men  of  disciplined  intelligence  are  intently  pursuing  their 
interesting  and  varied  work,  extending  in  new  directions,  retreating 
from  experimental  back  to  methods  tested  by  experience,  inspiring 
activity  in  their  diversified  departments  of  research,  and  in  the 
examination,  enjovment  and  creation  of  literatures,  studies,  arts, 
sciences,  bestowing  upon  the  throng  of  youth  who  come  and  go,  the 
priceless  possession  of  "a  knowledge  of  the  utilities,  the  amenities,  and 
the  consolation  of  books,  "  it  is  and  always  must  be  the  gratification  of 
other  men  to  see  to  it  that  this  noble  and  enjoyable  work  has  the  full 
support  which  the  funds  bestowed  by  unselfish  and  farsighted  founders 
can  afford. 

The  spirited  teams  of  powerful  millions,  harnessed  by  generous 
donors,  to  endowed  education  and  research,  the  foremost  vehicle  in 
the  triumphal  procession  of  enlightened  achievement,  ought  to  be 
encouraged,  urged  even,  to  the  exercise  of  their  full  strength,  guided 
by  a  farsighted  vigilance  which  shall  foil,  surprise,  and  avert  disaster, 
and  hold  them  steadfast  to  their  perpetual  service  in  the  grip  of 
tested  methods  and  business  policies  not  to  be  unclinched. 


NEED  OF  BUSINESS  METHODS  IN  OUR  UNIVERSITIES 

Mr.  William  A.  Dyche 
Business  Manager  of  Northwestern  University 

The  several  topics  for  discussion  at  this  conference  are  full  of  in- 
terest and  worthy  of  consideration.  It  is  likely  that  a  marked  differ- 
ence of  opinion  will  be  developed  in  regard  to  manv  of  them.  They 
cannot  be  decided  by  debate.  Each  college,  or  university  must,  to  a 
certain  extent,  work  out  its  own  scheme;  yet  public  discussion  by 
trustees  of  the  conditions  confronting  them  and  comparison  of  ideas 
will  be  beneficial. 

The  relation  of  faculty  and  trustees  in  regard  to  finances  is  most 
interesting.  It  seems  to  me  that  the  faculty,  through  the  president 
and  heads  of  departments,  should  have  a  large  part  in  planning  edu- 
cational expenditures.  It  seems  equally  clear  that  the  trustees  should 
have  entire  charge  of  the  business  management,  caring  for  the  property 
making  investments,  etc. 

There  is  one  point,  however,  where  there  can  be  no  room  for  differ- 
ing opinions,  namelv:  that  the  methods  used  in  our  business  offices 
should  be  the  best.     This  is  so  evident  that  there  should  be  no  necessity 

(77) 


78 

to  discuss  it ;  yet  there  is  a  great  need  of  publicity  on  this  point.  Many 
of  us  undoubtedly  know  of  institutions,  other  than  great  life  insurance 
companies,  handling  trust  funds  in  which  the  loosest  customs  prevail. 
I  remember  reading  some  years  ago  a  strong  article  on  this  subject 
published  in  the  Outlook.  I  wish  every  trustee  might  read  it.  It  was 
a  stirring  rebuke  to  the  laxity  and  carelessness  which  its  author  claimed 
existed  in  the  business  offices  of  many  of  our  colleges  and  universities. 
I  wish  I  had  it  now;  it  presented  the  matter  so  forcefully  that  I  would 
like  to  quote  from  it.  The  author  cited  numerous  instances  of  defal- 
cations in  our  colleges  and  in  the  trust  societies  of  our  churches.  I  hap- 
pen to  have  fairly  reliable  information  of  two  cases  that  will  serve  to 
emphasize  the  need  of  correct  business  methods  on  the  part  of  those 
to  whom  a  trust  has  been  committed. 

The  first  is  that  of  a  society  engaged  in  a  great  humanitarian  work. 
It  is  fostered  by  a  religious  denomination;  its  representatives  are 
appealing  every  day  in  the  year  to  the  American  public  for  donations; 
it  receives  and  disburses  annually  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars; 
it  has  endowments ;  it  offers  favorable  terms  for  annuities ;  it  is  a  trust 
society  in  the  broadest  sense  of  the  word.  Yet  the  officers  of  this 
society  and  the  trustees  who  have  the  management  of  its  vast  interests 
have  for  years  concealed  a  deficit  or  shortage  in  one  class  of  its  trust 
funds  closely  approximating  $100,000,  and  the  record  of  this  shortage 
is  kept  outside  of  the  books  on  a  vest-pocket  memorandum;  its  pub- 
lished reports  are  misleading.  I  am  not  aware  whether  this  shortage 
is  the  result  of  a  defalcation  or  mismanagement.  Until  within  three 
years  the  trustees  of  this  great  society  have  never  realized  the  necessity 
of  having  their  books  audited  by  non-interested  experts.  About  that 
time  a  new  trustee  was  elected.  He  saw  that  the  financial  reports 
were  not  satisfactory  and  that  the  officers  had  great  trouble  in  pre- 
paring them.  He  suggested  that  if  the  books  were  properly  system- 
atized, there  would  be  no  difficulty  in  making  accurate  and  satisfactory 
reports.  A  public  accountant  was  called  in  and  given  instructions  to 
make  an  exhaustive  audit  and  suggest  better  methods.  In  due  time 
he  discovered  the  shortage  above  refered  to  and  proceeded  to  make  it 
show  up  on  the  books.  The  old  trustees  were  alarmed;  they  urged 
him  to  overlook  it  and  not  to  refer  to  it  in  his  report.  He  declined; 
they  dismissed  him.  From  that  day  to  this  these  officers  continue  to 
conceal  the  shortage,  and  the  reverend  trustees,  high  in  the  councils 
of  a  great  church,  are  too  cowardly  to  publish  the  truth  or  even  correct 
their  books. 

The  other  illustration  is  that  of  a  comparatively  small  educational  in- 
stitution. It  was  founded  for  a  particular  purpose.  Its  kind  of  work  is 
not  expensive.  Its  endowment,  when  considered  with  reference  to  its 
need,  is  very  large.  Its  trustees  emplov  no  salaried  official  to  look  after 
its  business.     For  fifteen  years,  more  or  less,  one  of  their  number,  who 

(78) 


79 

had  a  reputation  for  business  sagacity  and  enjoyed  the  confidence  of 
his  associates,  has  acted  as  their  business  agent,  managing  the  prop- 
erty, looking  after  the  endowment,  collecting  the  income,  and  paying 
the  bills.  This  institution,  I  am  told,  has  not  published  a  financial 
report  for  years.  Its  trustees  have  a  general  idea  of  the  value  of  its 
property,  but  in  reality  little  definite  information.  However,  some  of 
them  know  and  have  known  for  years  that  their  associate  some  times 
deposits  the  funds  of  their  institution  to  the  credit  of  his  personal 
bank  account,  and  that  its  bills  are  sometimes  paid  with  his  personal 
check,  and  that  frequently  he  neglects  to  pay  them  until  long  past  due. 
When  a  temporary  loan  was  needed,  he  was  accustomed  to  borrow  in 
its  name  without  specific  authority  from  his  associates.  He  writes 
up  his  books  when  the  spirit  moves  him,  and  that  is  verv  rarely. 
Apparently  he  thinks  all  necessary  records  can  be  keept  on  the  stub 
end  of  his  check  book.  It  is  reported  that  the  trustees  are  beginning 
to  grow  tired  of  his  carelessness  and  in  a  most  peaceable  and  politic 
wav  are  intimating  to  him  the  necessity  of  a  more  accurate  system  of 
accounting.  They  are  really  disturbed,  but  hesitate  to  take  radical 
action,  fearing  to  wound  the  feelings  of  their  associate.  In  this  case 
I  doubt  if  the  institution  has  met  with  any  loss  other  than  that  which 
must  of  necessity  follow  such  carelessness. 

The  thing  that  impresses  me  most  is  that  we  trustees,  in  accepting 
office,  fail  to  realize  that  we  are  accepting  a  great  responsibility.  We 
may  have  visionary  ideas,  or  no  ideas  at  all,  about  the  educational 
problems  our  presidents  continually  hurl  at  us.  We  cannot  be  blamed 
verv  much  if  we  make  mistakes  about  them.  But  there  is  no  excuse 
for  us  if  we  tolerate  dangerous  customs  and  slipshod  methods  in  the 
business  offices  of  our  respective  institutions.  We  cannot  be  expected 
to  give  much  time  to  details;  hence  we  should  learn  from  experts  if 
our  accounting  systems  are  adequate  and  from  frequent  audits  and 
examinations  by  non-interested  public  accountants  if  our  books  are 
right  and  if  our  published  reports  can  be  verified  by  our  books.  Any- 
thing short  of  this  is  neglect  of  duty. 

The  best  and  most  approved  methods  of  handling  our  property, 
of  making  and  taking  care  of  investments,  of  looking  after  all  the 
material  interests  of  our  institutions  are  the  most  economical.  When 
any  trustee  opposes  changes  which  will  make  these  things  possible, 
he  is  assuming  grave  responsibility. 

I  have  been  asked  to  outline  an  accounting  system  suitable  for  a 
university.  This  is  a  difficult  task.  I  am  not  an  accountant.  Nothing 
in  the  world  so  staggers  me  as  as  column  of  figures.  Though  I  do  not 
know  how  to  do  the  books,  I  know  what  the  books  ought  to  do  for  me. 
I  will  offer  only  a  few  simple  suggestions. 

A  w^ell  planned  system  of  accounting  is  not  only  essential  for  the 
proper  management  of  a  university,  but  it  helps   to  make   proper 

(79) 


80 

management  easy.  A  set  of  books  may  be  accurate  but  not  satis- 
factory, in  that  it  does  not  yield  information  quickly  and  clearly. 
The  satisfactory  set  of  books  must  be  accurate  and  readily  yield  all 
needed  information — grinding  it  out,  as  it  were,  month  by  month. 
For  instance,  our  books  should  be  so  systematized  that  at  the  close  of 
the  first  month's  business  of  the  fiscal  year  a  few  hours'  labor  will 
result  in  a  report  or  reports  showing  all  the  receipts  and  expenditures 
of  each  and  every  department  in  the  university.  These  reports  should 
also  ompare  the  receipts  and  expenditures  with  the  estimates  in  the 
annual  budget.  Each  of  the  general  officers  of  the  university  should 
have  the  reports  covering  all  departments;  thus  they  can  by  a  glance 
keep  in  touch  with  the  financial  condition  of  the  whole  institution. 
The  dean,  or  executive  officer,  of  each  department  should  have  a  copy 
of  that  report  referring  to  his  own  work.  At  the  end  of  the  second 
month  similar  reports  should  be  sent  out  showing  the  total  for  the 
first  two  months  of  the  fiscal  year.  Thus  the  reports  for  the  twelfth 
month  will  be  a  complete  record  of  all  the  cash  transactions  of  the 
institution  for  the  year.  Reports  of  this  kind  are  an  invaluable  aid. 
They  constitute  a  safeguard  in  checking  overdrafts  on  appropriations 
and  misuse  of  funds.  A  series  of  these  reports,  covering  several  years, 
furnishes  many  valuable  hints  in  the  preparation  of  annual  budgets. 
It  costs  but  little  to  get  out  such  reports,  when  once  the  system  has 
been  established.  Having  learned  by  experience  their  great  value 
I  would  never  attempt  to  get  along  without  them.  If  you  do  not 
follow  this  plan  I  urge  you  to  give  it  a  trial. 

I  once  heard  a  trustee,  noted  for  his  unselfish  devotion  to  his  uni- 
versity, lament  that  he  could  never  tell  from  its  published  reports,  or 
even  from  its  books,  whether  it  was  living  within  its  income  or  not. 
He  feared  that  the  annual  operating  expenses  were  gradually  eating 
into  the  endowment.  This  is  a  frequent  experience,  It  is  due  to  the 
failure  of  the  accounting  office  to  distinguish  between  revenue  and 
expenses,  and  receipts  and  payments  on  other  accounts.  If  in  our 
set  of  books  we  draw  a  sharp  line  between  revenue  and  other  receipts, 
and  a  like  distinction  in  reference  to  expenses,  then  we  can  always  tell 
whether  our  institution  is  living  within  its  income  or  eating  into  its 
endowment.  It  is  very  easy  to  do  this.  Yet  the  average  system  of 
college  accounting  to  which  my  attention  has  been  called  breaks  down 
completeh^  at  this  vital  point. 

Our  records  of  assets  and  liabilities  should  be  so  clear  and  so  classi- 
fied that  statements  can  be  drawn  from  them  at  any  time,  showing 
how  they  are  being  changed  by  the  cash  transactions  of  a  given  period. 
The  financial  management  of  a  corporation  must  continually  compare 
its  assets  and  liabilities  of  to-day  with  those  of  a  year  ago.  If  we,  in 
college  work,  are  to  know  how  our  institutions  are  ^tting  on,  we 
also  must  do  this.      If  our  books  are  in  good  form  the  necessary  infor- 

(80) 


81 

mation  can  be  gotten  out  of  them  quickly  and  with  ease.  I  once 
knew  of  a  university  owning  several  hundred  diflferent  pieces  of  real 
estate  worth  nearly  five  million  dollars.  The  total  value  of  this  land 
was  entered  on  its  books,  but  there  was  no  real  estate  sub-ledger  or 
anv  other  accurate  record  of  the  individual  pieces  which  made  up  the 
total.  Once  an  unusually  diligent  clerk  made  up  a  typewritten 
statement  showing  these  holdings.  For  years  this  was  the  official 
record  of  this  great  amount  of  property. 

Our  books,  our  record,  our  vouchers — all  things  in  our  business 
offices,  should  be  kept  so  that  the  auditor  can  work  with  them  without 
undue  labor.  We  trustees,  of  course,  should  never  fail  to  have  our 
business  offices  audited. 

I  believe  the  auditor  should  be  a  ptiblic  accountant  who  is  not 
afraid  to  criticise  and  to  report  bluntly  on  what  he  finds.  It  happens 
usuallv  that  our  offices  are  audited  by  a  trustee  or  a  committee  of 
trustees  whose  work  is  merely  perfunctory;  this  is  a  dangerous  custom. 
I  have  pleasure,  however,  at  this  point,  in  stating  that  I  know  of  one 
trustee  auditor,  working  gratuitously,  who  during  the  past  year  has 
examined  all  the  books  and  records  in  the  business  office  of  a  large 
universitv  as  carefullv,  as  thoroughly,  as  skillfully,  as  any  paid  ac- 
countant could  have  done.  But  such  service  is  rare.  These  trustee 
auditors  usuallv  examine  the  payments  with  great  care;  if  the  record 
of  receipts  on  the  cash-book  adds  up  all  right,  they  assvime  that  it 
accounts  for  everything  and  go  away  satisfied.  It  is  at  this  point 
that  there  is  room  for  great  danger,  for  it  is  so  easy  not  to  enter  all 
the  receipts;  hence  this  system  of  ours  must  devise  some  plan  which 
will  aid  the  auditor  in  finding  out  if  all  the  money  which  ought  to 
have  been  received  has  been  entered  on  the  books,  and  if  not,  the 
reason  why.     This  can  be  done  almost  to  a  certainty. 

Again,  no  collecting  officer  should  ever  "be  allowed  to  receive  even 
one  cent  without  giving  a  receipt  for  it,  and  he  should  be  required  to 
keep  a  carbon  duplicate  of  this  receipt.  These  duplicates  will  be  of 
great  assistance  in  checking.  A  careful  method  of  daily  checking 
between  the  office  which  issues  bills  for  tuition  and  the  office  where 
they  are  paid  should  be  enforced.  These  bills  should  be  made  out  so 
that  an  analysis  of  tuition  receipts  can  be  made  up  showing  a  proper 
classification. 

No  collecting  officer  should  ever  be  the  disbursing  officer. 

Our  different  colleges  and  universities  do  not  follow  a  uniform 
plan  in  regard  to  annual  financial  reports.  Some  of  the  wealthiest  of 
them  do  not  publish  any;  or,  at  least,  do  not  give  them  general  circu- 
lation. Others  send  them  to  whomsoever  asks  for  them.  These 
reports,  however,  as  a  rule  are  uniform  in  one  respect,  namely:  their 
lack  of  clearness,  and  the  success  with  which  they  conceal  what  they 
are  supposed  to  make  plain. 

(81) 


82 

President  Eliot  of  Harvard  was,  I  am  told,  the  first  educator  who 
gave  attention  to  the  business  office  of  his  university.  Under  his 
direction  the  reports  of  Harvard  University  are  models.  You  can 
learn  anvthing  you  wish  to  know  about  the  finances  of  Harvard  by 
reading  the  annual  report  of  its  treasurer.  Such  a  report,  showing  a 
long  list  of  investments  of  endowment  funds,  with  the  interest  earning 
of  this  vear  compared  with  that  of  the  preceding  year,  inspires  confi- 
dence. The  prospective  donor  who  reads  one  of  Harvard's  reports 
will  never  be  afraid  to  trust  it  with  his  money. 

I  believe  it  good  policy  to  issue  full  and  complete  reports  conceal- 
ing nothing.  We  are  appealing  to  the  public  for  gifts;  we  should  let 
the  public  know  how  we  take  care  of  them. 

I  doubt  if  our  state  governments  have  any  right  to  exercise  super- 
vision over  the  business  management  of  our  colleges  and  universities. 
I  sometimes  wish  they  could  do  so.  Practically  every  university 
enjoys  special  privileges  from  its  state  government  in  the  form  of  a 
greater  of  less  exemption  from  taxation.  Even  though  the  state  may 
not  have  the  power  to  demand  it,  we  trustees  owe  it  to  ourselves  to 
prove  that  we  are  not  abusing  these  grants,  and  that  the  trust  funds 
which  we  are  collecting  by  virtue  of  the  power  conferred  by  our  char- 
ters are  not  stolen  or  mismanaged.  The  least  we  can  do  is  to  demon- 
strate to  the  state  which  has  granted  us  the  right  to  exist,  and  to  the 
generous  public  whose  donations  make  our  existence  possible,  that  we 
are  surrounding  our  business  interests  with  every  reasonable  safeguard. 

I  hope  this  conference  will  result  in  impressing  upon  the  conscience 
of  trustees  that  it  is  a  duty  they  owe  to  themselves  and  the  public  so 
to  manage  their  trusts  that  any  publicity  given  their  affairs  will  never 
be  embarrassing  to  them  or  result  in  loss  of  public  confidence  in  their 
institutions.  The  simplest  way  to  do  this  is  now  and  then  to  throw 
our  business  offices  open  to  an  examination  by  public  accountants  and 
to  study  well  the  advice  they  give  us. 

The  suggestions  of  this  paper  are  only  a  few  of  the  many  in  my 
mind,  and  I  am  sure,  of  the  many  you  are  thinking  of.  I  shall  offer 
only  one  more.  When  on  the  witness  stand  in  the  insurance  investi- 
gation now  being  made  in  New  York,  Mr.  Jacob  H.  Schiff,  the  eminent 
financier,  exclaimed — "  It  is  not  good  for  any  corporation  to  be  at  the 
mercy  of  one  man. "  It  is  very  natural  for  us  to  fall  into  the  haibt  of 
depending  upon  one  man.  This  is  one  of  the  greatest  dangers  which 
confronts  us.  Whenever  anything  goes  wrong  in  handling  trust  funds, 
one  man  power  is  usually  the  explanation.  So,  therefore,  let  me  urge 
on  you  to  see  that  your  institution  is  never  placed  at  the  mercy  of  one 
man. 

As  I  close  this  paper  it  seems  only  fitting  to  say  a  word  about  the 
new  president  of  the  University  of  Illinois.  I  have  known  of  him  since 
he  was  principal  of  the  high  school  in  Evanston  in  1877.     During  his 

(82) 


83 

short  term  as  president  of  Northwestern  University  I  was  inti- 
mately associated  with  him.  He  gave  us  great  service;  but  because 
of  its  brief  term  some  of  the  best  things  he  did  for  us  will  never  be 
recognized  as  the  result  of  his  work.  While  at  Northwestern,  Presi- 
dent James  displayed  evidence  of  leadership  in  his  work  with  the 
various  faculties  of  the  University,  and  soon  it  became  clear  that  he 
understood  the  needs  of  the  institution  and  its  possibilities  better 
than  many  who  had  been  studying  them  for  years.  He  gained  the 
confidence  and  loyal  support  of  every  faculty ;  he  completed  the  work 
which  his  predecessor,  Henry  Wade  Rogers,  began, — of  making  each 
of  the  colleges  feel  that  it  was  a  real  part  of  the  University ;  he  devel- 
oped the  true  university  spirit.  So  great  was  the  confidence  in  his 
advice  and  generalship  that  men,  old  in  service  as  instructors  in  law 
and  medicine,  sought  his  opinion  and  often  yielded  their  judgment  to 
his.     This  was  true  of  every  department  of  the  University. 

I  have  never  known  anyone  to  surpass  him  in  the  gift  of  brief, 
clear  and  forceful  statement.  This  is  one  of  his  strongest  qualities. 
In  private  and  on  the  rostrum  he  speaks  quietly  but  with  convincing 
force;  in  debate  he  is  vigorous,  but,  if  opposed,  so  fair  that  he  never 
gives  offense.  He  is  of  judicial  mind,  and  though  advocating  some 
policy  he  would  have  the  University  adopt,  he  always  pointed  out  its 
dangers  as  well  as  it  advantages;  he  never  misled.  These  qualities 
won  for  him  our  confidence. 

There  is  no  room  for  selfishness  among  vmiversities, — they  are  all 
working  for  a  common  end.  Their  true  interests  never  clash.  We, 
of  Northwestern,  are  gratified  that  our  state  university  has  secured 
as  its  President  one  of  the  greatest  leaders  in  the  educational  world. 
We  look  for  him  to  do  great  things  for  it  and  the  State.  We  hope  it 
will  become  under  his  leadership,  the  strongest  and  most  useful  uni- 
versity of  its  type  in  the  country.  President  James  is  only  content 
when  he  feels  that  the  institution  he  serves  is  "getting  there."  He 
wants  it  to  "get  there"  as  the  twentieth  centruy  limited  gets  to  New 
York.  So  we  urge  the  alumni,  faculties  and  trustees  of  the  University 
of  Illinois  to  keep  pace  with  him  and  make  this  institution  a  great 
power  in  the  State  and  country  at  large.  Organize  your  alumni,  send 
them  to  the  legislature .  You  will  then  get  all  the  appropriations  you  need. 
The  other  friends  of  higher  education  will  help  you  in  your  good  pur- 
poses. President  James  has  a  legion  of  friends  at  Northwestern  Uni- 
versity. They  unite  in  wishing  him  and  the  University  he  serves, 
"God-speed." 


(83; 


84 

DISCUSSION 

Mr.  Ernest  Reckitt 
Certified  Public  Accountant,  Chicago,  Illinois 

While  I  do  not  come  before  you  this  afternoon  bearing  official  ere 
dentials  from  either  the  "  Illinois  Society  of  Certified  Public  Accounts" 
or  from  the  national  body  known  as  the  "American  Association  of 
Public  Accountants,"  I  venture  to  believe  that  it  is  my  duty,  as  it  is 
certainly  my  pleasure,  to  refer  briefly  to  the  history  of  the  profession 
to  which  I  have  the  honor  to  belong.  And  in  opening  the  discussion 
in  this  manner,  it  is  because  the  papers  which  have  just  been  read 
frequently  allude  to  the  necessity  of  periodical  audits  by  public 
accountants,  and  the  further  reason  that  some  of  those  present  may 
have  somewhat  vague  ideas  as  to  the  meaning  of  the  term  "Certified 
Public  Accountant,"  together  with  his  duties  and  responsibilities. 

As  far  back  as  the  time  of  Chaucer,  the  profession  of  the  auditor 
was  considered  an  honorable  calling,  while  Shakespeare  refers  to  the 
auditor  in  the  same  terms.  It  was  not,  however,  until  the  year  1854 
that  the  accountants  of  Edinburgh,  Scotland,  organized  under 
Royal  Charter  the  first  Society  of  Accountants,  the  accountants  in  the 
cities  of  Glasgow  and  Aberdeen  following  their  excellent  example 
shortly  afterwards. 

In  the  year  1880,  various  associations  of  professional  accountants, 
practicing  in  London  and  some  of  the  principal  towns  in  England, 
were  incorporated  into  one  body  under  the  style  of  "The  Institute  of 
Chartered  Accountants  in  England  and  Wales,"  and  received  their 
charter  by  special  act  of  parliament.  In  all  of  the  above  societies  of 
accountants  the  eligibility  to  the  use  of  the  term  "Chartered  Ac- 
countant" depends  upon  the  serving  of  articles  for  a  period  of  five 
years  in  the  office  of  a  chartered  accountant,  and  the  successful  passing 
of  certain  examination. 

In  this  country  the  necessity  for  the  employment  of  public  account- 
ants did  not  become  so  apparent  until  a  later  date,  one  of  the  chief 
reasons  for  this  condition  being  that  competition  in  business  was  not 
so  keen  as  in  the  older  countries  in  Europe,  profits  made  were  much 
larger  than  at  present  and  in  consequence  the  same  attention  to  detail 
was  not  given.  In  the  year  1890,  the  profession  of  the  public  account- 
ant was  beginning  to  be  appreciated  in  the  East,  it  was  scarcely  known 
in  the  West.  But  the  stagnant  condition  of  business  which  existed 
from  1893  to  1897  acted  as  a  stimulus  to  the  profession  of  the  ac- 
countant, for  the  man  of  affairs  found  it  necessary  to  watch  every 
part  of  his  business  to  avoid  waste  and  extravagance  in  order  to  make 
the  balance  of  his  profit  and  loss  account  come  out  on  the  right  side. 
In  the  year  1896  the  legislature  of  the  State  of  New  York  passed  the 
first  act  in  the  United  States  creating  the  title  of  certified  public  ac- 
countant, conferring  upon  the  State  University  the  power  of  granting 

(84) 


85 

this  degree,  C.  P.  A.,  to  those  who  could  qualify  under  same,  the 
object  of  the  statute  being  to  protect  the  public  from  the  employment 
of  men  of  doubtful  character  or  insufficient  experience.  There  is, 
however,  nothing  compulsory  in  the  act  in  the  nature  of  forbidding 
those  who  are  not  certified  public  accountants  from  practicing  as 
accountants,  but  it  does  enable  the  public  to  discriminate  between 
the  accountant  who  has  qualified  as  a  certified  public  accountant  and 
one  who  has  not.  The  legislatures  of  other  states,  such  as  Pennsyl- 
vania, Marvland,  California,  Illinois,  Washington  and  New  Jersey, 
have  passed  similar  laws,  varying  from  one  another  onlv  in  minor 
points. 

It  was  in  May,  1903,  that  the  Illinois  legislature  pasesd  the  C.  P.  A. 
law  for  this  State,  and  conferred  upon  the  University,  whose  guests 
we  are  to-dav,  the  privilege  of  granting  the  degree  of  C.  P.  A.,  to  those 
who  could  qualify.  The  University  of  Illinois  has  taken  up  this  fresh 
dutv  with  its  usual  energv,  and  immediately  after  the  passage  of  the 
act  selected  three  public  accountants  of  experience  to  act  as  examiners, 
and  has  given  them  its  hearty  support. 

From  the  above  short  sketch,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  profession  of 
public  accountant,  although  comparatively  young,  is  now  a  recognized 
and  honorable  calling,  and  that  the  object  of  this  legislation  is  to  pro- 
tect the  public;  for,  after  the  completion  of  an  audit,  the  last  word 
has  been  said  on  the  subject,  hence  the  importance  of  only  engaging 
those  who  are  not  only  thoroughly  competent  but  also  conscientious. 

Any  attempt  on  my  part  to  discuss  in  a  critical  manner  the  papers 
that  it  has  been  our  good  fortune  to  listen  to  this  afternoon  would 
indeed  be  foolish,  for  if  the  gentlemen  responsible  for  them  had  been 
paid  advance  agents  of  the  accountancy  profession,  they  could  not 
have  more  faithfully  represented  to  you  the  importance  of  accurate 
methods  of  accounts  and  the  relation  of  the  public  accountants  to  the 
trustee  of  colleges  and  universities.  The  fact,  however,  that  they, 
instead  of  being  paid  advocates  of  our  profession,  are  men  of  large 
business  affairs  lends  additional  weight  to  their  argument.  While, 
therefore,  in  leading  this  discussion  I  cannot  criticise  anything  con- 
tained in  their  papers,  I  propose  to  briefly  enlarge  upon  some  of  the 
matters  referred  to  by  them  and  especially  upon  the  necessity  of  the 
supervision  of  the  accounts  of  colleges  and  universities  by  professional 
public  accountants. 

Mr.  Dyche,  in  his  paper,  very  modestly  states  that  he  is  not  an 
accountant  and  that  he  is  staggered  by  a  column  of  figures.  This 
may  be  so,  but  I  would  point  out  that  the  peculiar  ability  exhibited 
by  the  lightning  calculator  no  more  constitutes  an  accountant,  than 
the  ability  to  talk  rapidly  or  for  a  long  period  of  time  constitutes  all 
the  requirements  of  a  lawyer.  I  desire,  however,  to  state  the  fact  that 
whether  he  be  an  accountant  or  not  he  posseses  many  of  those  quali- 

(85) 


86 

ties  which  constitute  an  accountant,  and  this  is  as  it  should  be,  for  a 
very  intimate  relation  exists  between  the  qualifications  of  the  business 
manager  of  a  college  or  university  and  those  of  a  public  accountant. 

The  business  manager  must  be,  first  and  foremost,  a  man  of  large 
business  experience  and  incidentally  he  should  have  a  knowledge  of 
the  value  of  accounts  and  be  able  to  interpret  their  meaning  when 
reports  are  presented  to  him.  The  public  accountant,  on  the  other 
hand,  must,  first  and  foremost,  be  a  man  gifted  with  an  intimate 
knowledge  of  all  systems  of  accounts,  methods  of  audit,  and  commer- 
cial law;  and  incidentally  he  must  have  such  an  appreciation  of  busi- 
ness requirements  that  he  instinctively  knows  the  character  of  the 
information  required  by  the  business  manager.  By  combining  the 
qualification  of  an  experienced  man  of  business,  as  described  above, 
with  those  of  the  trained  accountant,  the  trustees  of  colleges  and 
universities  will  not  only  find  themselves  relieved  of  a  large  part  of 
their  burden  of  responsibility,  but  will  find  an  ever  ready  source  of 
information  upon  which  they  can  form  intelligent  opinions  before 
pursuing  any  definite  course  of  action. 

The  nature  of  the  services  that  can  be  rendered  b}^  the  public 
accountant  to  the  trustees  of  colleges  and  universities  may,  for  the 
purposes  of  this  discussion,  be  briefly  summarized  under  two  headings. 
Publicity  and  System.  I  shall  take  up  these  subjects  in  the  order 
named. 

PUBLICITY 

I  shall  only  touch  upon  this  very  briefly,  as  it  has  been  so  well 
covered  in  the  papers  already  read.  The  certificate  of  the  certified 
public  accountant  has  become  recognized  as  the  standard  expression 
of  the  accuracy  and  reliability  of  the  statements  to  which  it  refers. 
The  certified  public  accountant  has  no  ax  to  grind,  no  friendships  or 
affiliations  in  respect  to  the  institution  he  investigates.  His  reports 
are  independent  statements  of  facts,  impartial,  without  fear  or  favor. 
Therefore,  when  you  appeal  to  the  public  for  financial  aid,  whether 
the  same  be  a  general  appeal  or  a  special  appeal  to  some  well  known 
philanthropist,  the  emplo3^ment  of  the  certified  public  accountant 
will  not  only  beget  confidence  and  an  accurate  knowledge  of  your 
needs,  but  if  intelligence  is  used,  in  the  preparation  of  his  report  and 
statements,  they  will  be  so  simple  that  he  who  runs  may  read.  The 
effect  of  this  form  of  publicity  will,  I  believe,  be  found  of  direct  bene- 
fit to  the  finances  of  those  institutions  that  depend  wholly  or  partially 
upon  public  beneficence. 

SYSTEM 

If  you  can  imagine  two  concerns  each  manufacturing  the  same 

•  article  and  each  attempting  to  sell  its  product  in  the  same  market, 

one  of  which  has  an  "up  to  date"  system  of  accounts,  while  the  other 

concern  runs  along  upon  the  same  methods  employed  fifty  years  ago, 

(86) 


87 

it  does  not  require  much  discrimination  to  decide  which  will  succeed. 
As  it  is  in  business,  so  it  is  with  all  philanthropical  and  educational 
institutions.  The  college  or  university  which  does  not  appreciate  the 
advantages  of  using  records  and  reports  which  will  give  the  maximum 
amount  of  accurate  information  is  foredoomed  to  failure. 

This  is  not  the  place  to  enter  into  any  detailed  discussion  of 
methods,  but  a  few  pointed  questions  may  suggest  the  wide  ground 
covered  bv  a  complete  system  of  accounts  and  records.  If  you  find 
yourself  unable  to  answer  any  of  these  questions  in  the  affirmative, 
then  to  that  extent  your  system  of  accounts  is  deficient. 

Are  vour  accounts  of  revenues  and  expenses  so  analysed  that  you 
can  readilly  draw  up  an  intelligent  and  fairly  accurate  budget  for  the 
succeeding  year? 

This  question  suggests  the  thought  of  analysis  of  accounts  into 
manv  and  various  headings  and  subheadings.  In  asking  this  question 
or  a  similar  one,  I  have  often  been  met  with  the  answer  that  it  would 
take  too  much  work  and  cost  too  much;  besides,  what  does  it  matter, 
the  money  has  been  spent  and  was  not  spent  foolishly.  As  an  answer 
to  such  an  argument,  the  building  in  which  we  are  convened  suggests 
a  valuable  thought.  Chemistry  is  the  science  of  synthesis  and  analy- 
sis. The  chemist  first  undertakes  analysis  so  that  he  may  understand 
synthesis.  He  first  separates  to  its  ultimate  elements  the  compounds 
presented  to  him,  so  that  he  ma}^  know  how  to  manufacture  them. 
Analysis  may  be  compared  to  your  detailed  svstem  of  accounts  with 
their  headings  and  sub-headings,  synthesis  corresponds  to  your  bud- 
get. To  carry  the  illustration  farther.  Some  gold  is  brought  to  the 
chemical  laboratory  for  assay.  It  looks  all  right  on  the  face  of  it, 
but  under  the  trained  hands  of  the  chemist  it. is  analysed  and  found 
to  be  seventy  per  cent  pure  gold,  thirty  per  cent  dross.  How  much 
dross  have  vou  in  vour  expense  accounts,  how  much  waste.  You 
cannot  tell  unless  your  accounts  are  accurately  kept  and  intelligently 
analysed.  It  goes  without  saying  that  no  money  is  disbursed  by 
honest  administrators  for  what  they  considered  at  the  time  was  fool- 
ish expenditure,  but  a  proper  distribution  of  the  expense  accounts 
will  show  at  a  later  date  that  certain  expenditures  have  not  brought 
the  results  anticipated  and  that  such  items  should  be  cut  off  or  cur- 
tailed in  the  future.     In  other  words  they  are  the  dross,  the  waste. 

Do  you  know  promptlv  each  month  what  your  revenues  and  ex- 
penses of  each  and  every  classification  amount  to,  and  their  relation 
to  the  appropriations  made  for  same,  and  also  their  relation  to  the 
corresponding  month  or  period  the  year  prior? 

This  question  suggests  a  brief  digression  as  to  the  terms  revenue 
and  expense.  Please  note  that  I  do  not  use  the  term  receipts  and 
disbursements.  Many  colleges  have  no  other  book  of  original  entry 
than  their  cash  book,  and  under  this  system  no  intelligent  comparison 

(87) 


88 

can  be  made.  Every  liability,  either  for  goods  purchased  or  for  ser- 
vices received,  should  be  entered  in  the  month  it  was  incurred,  and 
the  same  argument  holds  good  as  to  your  revenues. 

Do  you  and  your  business  managers  receive  complete  statements 
of  account  each  month,  setting  forth  fully  the  revenues  and  expenses 
of  that  month  ?  and  does  the  dean  of  each  faculty  receive  a  copy  of  that 
portion  of  the  monthly  report  dealing  with  his  department?  If  you 
do  not  follow  this  practice,  is  it  any  wonder  that  at  the  close  of  the 
fiscal  year  you  find  yourselves  confronted  with  a  deficit  instead  of  a 
surplus  ? 

Are  the  accounts  with  your  endowment  funds  carefully  kept, 
distinct  one  from  another,  as  also  the  revenues  received  from  such 
endowments?  Are  the  uninvested  portions  of  these  endowments  so 
recorded  as  to  afford  .  your  business  manager  the  information  upon 
which  he  can  invest  same,  so  as  to  immediately  make  them  interest 
bearing? 

Is  an  account  kept  of  every  investment  and  a  record  kept  of  the 
rate  of  interest  it  is  bearing,  as  a  guide  to  the  suitablity  or  otherwise 
of  a  similar  class  of  investment  being  made  in  the  future?  When  an 
investment  is  one  of  property,  have  you  detailed  accounts  to  record 
the  cost  of  operation  of  such  property,  and  with  the  further  object  of 
being  in  a  position  to  prepare  comparative  statements  of  such  ex- 
penses of  each  investment  one  with  another?  If  you  hold  the  title  to 
improved  property,  are  you  providing  a  reserve  to  cover  depreciation; 
or,  if  it  be  a  lease,  are  you  providing  a  sinking  fund  ?  If  you  own  bonds 
purchased  above  par,  are  you  writing  off  a  proportionate  amount  of 
the  premium-each  vear? 

Have  you  a  methodical  manner  of  issuing  stores  by  requisitions, 
and  have  you  what  is  known  as  a  "store-room  system,"  so  as  to 
avoid  waste  and  possible  theft.  Furthermore  are  all*  supplies  pur- 
chased by  a  purchasing  agent  or  the  business  manager  acting  as  pur- 
chasing agent,  so  as  to  obtain  the  best  prices  and  prevent  extrava- 
gance ? 

Are  you  figuring  the  total  cost  of  operation  on  a  per  capita  basis? 
And  here  I  would  point  out  that  while  this  is  a  valuable  calculation 
for  comparing  the  per  capita  cost  of  one  vear  with  another,  if  carried 
out  understandingly,  it  is  more  important  to  make  a  similar  calcula- 
tion after  cutting  out  of  the  operation  expense  all  tuition  fees.  Un- 
like the  ordinary  factory  or  construction  company  whose  sole  end  is 
to  manufacture  or  construct  at  the  lowest  cost,  we  may  compare  the 
college  or  university  to  the  manufacture  of  some  specially  fine  piece  of 
machinery  or  tool,  where  the  cost  of  the  material  or  workmanship 
upon  it  is  not  a  consideration,  or  to  the  construction  of  a  palace  or 
temple  where  the  cost  of  marble  is  only  a  consideration  in  so  far  as 
the  amount  of  money  raised  for  its  erection  must  not  be  exceeded. 

(88) 


89 

The  output  of  the  college  or  university  is  the  most  wonderful  piece  of 
machinery  known — the  brain;  and  what  is  more  important  still,  the 
temple  it  constructs,  the  character  it  builds,  is  fashioned  after  the 
likeness  of  God.  Therefore  the  cost  of  tuition  per  capita  cannot  be  a 
consideration  in  the  same  manner  as  other  operation  expenses,  except 
in  so  far  that  the  total  amount  expended  must  be  in  conformity  with 
your  revenues. 

Finally,  do  you  surround  those  employees  who  are  entrusted  with 
the  handling  of  your  funds  with  every  safeguard,  so  that  in  the  hour 
of  temptation  the  fear  of  detection  may  save  them  from  committing 
a  crime  ?  You  may  say  this  is  a  low  motive  for  adhering  to  the  straight 
and  narrow  path.  I  grant  it;  but  are  we  to  be  the  sole  judges  and 
condemn  the  man  for  yielding  to  a  temptation,  the  severity  of  which 
we  have  no  conception.  After  fourteen  years  continuous  practice  as 
a  public  accountant,  and  having  come  in  contact  with  many  men 
whose  defalcations  I  have  discovered,  I  wish  to  state  that  honesty  and 
trustworthiness  are  the  rule,  and  that  it  is  opportunity  combined  with 
adverse  circumstances,  that  create  the  criminal.  Not  only  to  you, 
trustees  of  colleges  and  universities,  but  to  all  employers  of  trusted 
employees,  I  wish  to  say  that  you  carry  heavy  moral  responsibility  if 
you  do  not  throw  around  them  the  well-known  safeguards  of  proper 
systems  of  account  and  periodical  audits.  The  lack  of  this  apprecia- 
tion has  been  not  onlv  the  cause  of  much  loss  of  money  and  bank- 
ruptcy of  business  institutions,  but  what  is  infinitely  worse,  the  ruin  of 
homes  and  fair  reputations. 

James  E.  Davidson 
Trustee  of  Hillsdale  College 

I  have  been  very  much  interested  in  this  discussion,  and  think  it  is 
time  there  was  an  awakening  on  the  questions  brought  out  by  these 
papers  this  afternoon.  I  hoped  we  should  hear  from  some  of  the 
larger  colleges  on  this  subject.  I  am  connected  with  one  of  the  small- 
est colleges  represented  in  this  gathering;  but  the  remarks  that  have 
been  made  come  home  to  me,  because  I  note  the  soundness  of  the 
business  requirements  so  ably  set  forth  in  the  last  paper  read.  I  think 
what  is  true  of  the  college  I  represent  is  equally  true  of  any  college  I 
am  acquainted  with.  I  find  them  regularly  having  deficits,  and  eating 
into  their  endowed  funds ;  and  they  go  right  along  doing  it  year  after 
year.  Some  of  them  make  an  effort  to  make  good  the  loss;  but  I 
think  there  is  a  most  regretable  carelessness  on  this  subject.  I  have 
been  very  much  afraid  that  the  college  with  which  I  am  connected 
has  been  cutting  into  the  fund  with  which  it  has  no  right  to  do  any- 
thing with  but  to  make  use  of  the  income.  I  hope  those  papers  will 
be  printed  and  circulated,  believing  their  usefulness  will  be  largely 

(89) 


90 

lost  if  they  are  only  heard  here.  I  think  we  need  them,  and  I  wish 
every  trustee  of  the  college  with  which  I  am  connected  could  have  a 
copy.  I  believe  nothing  will  do  more  to  open  the  fountain  of  public 
benevolence  than  to  have  the  donors  assured  that  what  they  give  as 
a  permanent  endowment  fund  will  be  sacredly  kept  for  all  time. 
There  is  not  much  to  encourage  one  to  give  funds  to  a  college  if  he 
finds  that  the  trustees  are  to  spend  the  principal  sum  that  he  has  set 
aside  to  be  kept  permanently.  If  we  can  awaken  the  conscience  of 
the  trustees  of  colleges  to  the  importance  of  this,  this  meeting  will 
have  been  worth  a  great  deal  more  than  it  will  cost. 


Mr.  a.  C.  True 

Director  in  the  Office  of  the  Experiment  Stations  of  the  United  States 

Department  of  Agriculture 

It  has  been  my  fortune,  in  behalf  of  the  United  States,  to  examine 
the  accounts  kept  of  one  of  the  federal  funds  granted  to  the  colleges 
and  universities  of  the  various  states.  In  this  way  I  have  seen  the 
books  of  those  institutions  in  all  the  states  and  territories;  and  while 
it  is  my  business  to  examine  an  account  which  is  only  small  in  amount 
and  limitedin  its  application,  I  have,  nevertheless,  in  connection  with 
this  examination,  had  numerous  opportunities  to  become  acquainted 
with  the  general  methods  of  accounting  in  those  colleges.  I  arise  this 
afternoon  simply  to  say  that  I  am  sure  that  good  will  come  out  of  such 
a  conference  as  this,  from  the  getting  together  of  representatives  and 
trustees  and  accounting  officers  of  these  institutions  with  a  view  of 
comparison  of  methods  of  accounting  out  of  which  may  come  the 
establishment  of  certain  principles  and  methods  which  will  bring  the 
accounts  of  such  institutions  generally  into  more  harmonious  order 
and  establish  a  somewhat  general  system  of  accounting  for  colleges 
and  universities.  I  have  been  impressed  in  my  examinations  of  the 
accounts  of  those  institutions  with  the  great  diversity  in  their  methods 
of  accounting.  I  understand,  of  course,  the  environment  of  these 
institutions  is  very  different.  The  funds  which  thev  handle  are  natu- 
rally under  very  different  conditions,  so  that  I  would  not  expect  any 
very  great  uniformity  of  detail  in  their  methods  of  accounting.  But 
there  are  certain  principles  in  accounting  which  it  seems  to  me  are 
general  in  their  application,  and  which  run  through  these  institutions 
as  a  class.  I  am  sure  that  such  a  discussion  as  we  have  had  here  this 
afternoon  will  lead  to  a  better  and  more  thorough  system  of  account- 
ing for  colleges  and  universities. 


(90) 


91 


KOURXH    SESSION 


SELECTION  OF  TRUSTEES 

Hon.  Paul  Jones 
Former  Trustee  of  Ohio  State  University 

Formerly  some  of  the  universities  were  divided  into  three  classes ; 
the  magistrate,  the  scholars,  and  the  disciples. 

To-day  in  the  United  States  we  have  three  bodies  constituting  our 
universities  and  colleges:  the  trustees,  the  president  and  the  faculty, 
and  the  students.  The  trustees  are  charged,  in  part,  with  the  intel- 
lectual, moral,  physical,  and  sometimes  religious,  development  of  a 
select  body  of  youth.  The  rollicking  and  often  tempestuous  young 
men  of  to-day  will,  a  generation  hence,  be  the  men  who  will  be  filling  the 
pulpits,  the  teachers  in  our  public  schools,  the  professors  in  our  uni- 
versities and  colleges.  They  will  be  the  men  who  will  be  editing  our 
great  newspapers  and  magazines  and  writing  our  books.  They  will  be 
the  men  who  are  healing  the  sick  and  afiflicted,  as  physicians;  they  will 
be  the  men  who  will,  as  engineers,  construct  and  operate  our  great 
thoroughfares  and  highways  of  travel ;  the  architects  who  will  erect 
our  buildings;  our  lawyers  and  judges,  who  will  administer  justice  in 
our  courts;  the  educated,  intelligent,  and  scientific  farmers  who  will 
till  the  millions  of  acres  of  our  land;  in  fact,  the  college  students  of  to- 
day will,  when  they  come  to  full  manhood  and  enter  upon  the  duties 
of  life,  be  an  epitome  of  what  this  nation  then  shall  be.  To  the  end 
that  these  young  men  and  young  women  may  be  educated,  trustees 
are  charged  with  the  duties  of  selecting  presidents  and  faculties,  of 
determining  what  studies,  at  least  in  part,  shall  be  pursued.  The 
trustees  of  colleges  must  determine  what  departments  must  be  had 
at  their  institutions,  and  the  trustees  of  the  universities  must  deter- 
mine what  colleges  shall  be  added  to  their  university.  They  must 
look  after  the  endowments,  the  budgets,  and  the  appropriations. 
They  must  erect  the  halls,  libraries,  laboratories,  gymnasiums  and 
other  buildings,  and  acquire  land  upon  which  they  shall  be  constructed. 
Surely  the  duties  of  the  trustee  are  multitudinous  and  responsible. 
The  question  comes  to  us  as  to  what  manner  of  man  he  should  be. 
He  should  be  a  man  of  probity  and  character ;  and  if  a  young  man  he 
should  be  one  who  promises  to  attain  some  distinction  in  his  business, 
profession,  or  calling,  in  order  to  be  an  example  to  the  students  in  the 
institution  which  he  serves.  Above  all  things  he  should  have  a  con- 
structive mind.      He  should  be  a  man  who  is  capable  of  originating 

(91) 


92 

and  consummating  plans  for  the  betterment  of  the  institution. 
Preferably  he  should  be  a  graduate  of  a  collegiate  institution, — but 
this  is  not  essential.  John  Hopkins,  Stephen  Gerard,  and  Mathew 
Vassar,  never  acted  as  center  rush  in  a  foot-ball  team  on  a  university 
campus;  they  never  had  any  college  training.  John  D.  Rockefeller, 
the  founder  of  one  institution,  and  the  patron  of  many,  never  burned 
the  midnight  oil  in  a  dormitory  of  any  college  or  university.  Such 
men  would  be  entirely  capable  of  serving  upon  a  board  of  trustees  of 
any  educational  institution  in  this  country.  One  of  the  best  trustees 
that  I  ever  knew  was  a  man  who,  when  he  should  have  been  obtaining 
a  college  education,  was  a  clerk  upon  a  steamboat;  but  he  was  always 
a  student  and  served  faithfully  and  well  the  institution  to  which  he 
was  appointed.  I  refer  to  Lewis  P.  Wing  of  the  Ohio  State  University. 
President  Thompson,  who  is  in  the  audience,  will,  I  think,  bear  me  out 
in  that  statement  and  also  that  he  did  more  for  agricultural  education 
in  the  State  of  Ohio  than  perhaps  any  man  who  was  ever  connected 
with  that  institution  in  any  manner  whatever. 

How  are  we  to  obtain  the  services  of  such  men  ?  What  manner  of 
appointment  or  selection  shall  be  followed,  in  order  to  get  progressive, 
intelligent,  able  men  to  take  these  positions?  I  have  no  patience  with 
the  trustee  who  is  so  conservative  that  he  never  can  progress,  and  who 
under  the  name  of  conservatism  can  never  do  anything  but  argue  and 
object.  If  I  were  called  upon  to  revise  the  litany,  there  is  just  one 
little  prayer  I  would  insist  on  inserting,  and  that  is:  "From  all  such 
trustees,  good  Lord,  deliver  us.  "  Formerly,  our  institutions  of  learn- 
ing were  corporations  which  received  their  charters  from  the  sovereign. 
Dartmouth  and  Kings  Colleges  received  their  charters  from  the  sov- 
ereign of  Great  Britian,  Those  charters  provided,  whether  they  were 
the  charters  of  colleges  or  the  charters  of  other  public  or  private  cor- 
porations, that  the  persons  named  therein  should  be  a  body  corporate 
with  the  power  of  succession  and  power  of  perpetuity,  and  usually 
provided  that  when  a  vacancy  occurred  the  remaining  members  should 
fill  the  vacancy.  Such  was  the  custom  in  our  early  institutions. 
Harvard  and  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  had  their  boards  of 
trustees  created  and  filled  in  this  manner. 

In  1869  John  Hopkins  determined  to  charter  the  institution  which 
now  bears  his  name.  After  consultation  with  President  Angell,  Presi- 
dent White,  and  President  Eliot,  it  was  determined  that  under  the  laws 
of  commerce  an  institution  should  be  chartered  with  twelve  incor- 
porators who  would  become  the  twelve  trustees  of  the  institution,  and 
that  they  should  have  the  power  to  fill  any  vacancies  that  occurred  in 
the  board.  The  University  of  Pennsylvania  received  its  charter  from 
the  colonial  government  prior  to  the  revolution,  and  it  filled  vacancies 
in  the  same  way.  About  the  year  1832,  Stephen  Gerard  died,  leaving 
a  will  whereby  he  created  a  trust  and  provided  for  an  institution  of 

(92) 


93 

learning;  and  in  that  will  he  conferred  upon  the  city  council  of  Phila- 
delphia the  power  of  taking  charge  of  his  property  left  in  trust  and 
creating  a  board  which  should  control  the  educational  institution 
which  he  created.  A  board  was  created  by  act  of  the  council,  and 
Nicholas  Biddle  was  made  chairman  of  the  board.  With  some  changes 
that  institution  was  controlled  by  a  board  down  to  the  year  1869,  the 
same  year  in  which  John  Hopkins  was  chartered.  There  having  arisen 
scandals  in  the  administration  of  the  trust,  the  legislature  of  Penn- 
sylvania passed  an  act  providing  that  the  trust  should  be  turned  over 
to  aboard  of  trustees  consisting  of  sixteen  members  appointed  by  the 
courts.  We  have,  therefore,  in  recent  times  an  institution  whose 
existence  began  with  the  advice  and  approval  of  President  Angell, 
President  White,  and  President  Eliot,  having  a  board  of  trustees 
which  was  a  self-perpetuating  body;  and  in  the  same  year  in  Phila- 
delphia,we  have  the  power  taken  from  the  city  council  of  Philadelphia 
and  transferred  to  a  board  of  trustees  appointed  by  the  court.  These 
two  methods  seemed  entirely  inconsistent  and  irreconcilable,  but  in 
each  case  they  were  only  following  known  customs,  one  the  custom 
of  creating  corporations,  the  other  the  rules  of  the  courts  of  chancery 
in  taking  charge  of  the  trusts  by  the  courts  appointing  trustees.  When 
Harvard  University  was  incorporated,  it  was  both  a  church  and  a 
state  school.  The  church  and  state  were  one  and  the  same.  It  had 
a  charter  which  provided  for  the  filling  of  vacancies  occurring  as  I  have 
described.  However,  Harvard  has  changed  as  Yale  has  changed,  and 
the  overseers  of  those  institutions  are  elected,  at  least  in  part,  by  the 
alumni  of  the  institution.  W^e  have  upon  the  Atlantic  seaboard  five 
institutions  in  which  the  trustees  are  appointed  by  the  remaining 
members  of  the  board  when  vacancies  occur,  other  institutions  where 
trustees  are  elected  by  the  alumni  of  the  institution,  and  still  another 
in  which  the  trustees  are  appointed  by  the  court. 

Other  institutions  are  controlled  in  part  in  the  appointment  of 
their  trustees  by  will,  deeds  of  trust,  or  persons  who  are  founders  of 
them,  and  who  place  certain  provisions  in  those  documents.  Some 
institutions  are  created  either  by  special  act  of  the  legislature  or  by 
charters  that  are  authorized  by  general  laws,  and  in  those  institutions 
anything  that  is  lawful  may  be  placed  in  the  charter.  Therefore,  we 
may  have  in  this  class  of  institutions  a  multitude  of  different  methods 
of  selecting  trustees,  inasmuch  as  the  founders  are  permitted  to  inject 
into  the  charters  anything  that  is  not  inconsistent  with  the  law  or  the 
constitution.  Another  very  large  class  of  institutions,  both  colleges 
and  universities,  have  a  still  different  method  of  selecting  their  trus- 
tees. It  is  one  of  the  curious  things  in  the  history  of  this  country  that 
our  public  schools  and  religion  are  entirely  divorced.  This  is  practi- 
cally absolute.  In  Ohio  the  supreme  court  decided  that  it  was  unlaw- 
ful to  hold  Sunday  school  in  a  public  school  house  in  the  country.      In 

(93) 


94 

Nebraska  the  supreme  court  has  decided  that  it  is  unlawful  to  read  the 
Bible  in  the  public  schools.  And  yet  these  same  states  have  placed 
no  restriction  upon  religious  bodies  in  organizing  colleges  and  univer- 
sities and  placing  in  their  charters  language  in  which  it  is  indicated 
beyond  all  doubt  that  the  founders  of  those  institutions  intended  to 
blend  religion  and  education.  Some  of  these  charters  provide  in  so 
many  words  that  the  institution,  founded  by  the  incorporators  and 
provided  for  by  the  charter,  is  for  the  promotion  of  religion  and  sound 
learning.  But  they  are  in  a  sense  private  institutions;  and  the  state 
does  not  interfere  with  them  in  any  particular  whatever.  In  those 
institutions  the  church  is  the  moving  force.  Without  the  church  they 
would  never  have  been  created.  The  church  feeling  the  necessity  of 
having  an  educated  clergy,  of  having  educated  missionaries,  feels 
called  upon  to  organize  this  class  of  institution.  Almost  without 
exception,  the  president  of  such  an  institution,  when  called  to  occupy 
the  chair,  is  taken  from  one  of  the  pulpits  of  the  church  that  has  con- 
trol of  this  institution,  and  he  often  becomes  a  preacher  in  one  of  the 
churches  in  the  place  in  which  the  institution  is  located.  So  that 
there  is  a  close  bond  of  union  between  the  church  and  the  institution. 
The  trustees  of  such  institutions  are  elected  by  synods,  or  by  the 
church  association,  or  church  bodies  that  patronize  that  particular 
college  or  university.  So  that  if  there  are, five  patronizing  conferences 
that  have  an  interest  in  the  institution,  they  nominate  and  elect  their 
quota  of  trustees  to  control  the  institution.  Sometimes  some  of  the 
institutions  permit  a  number  of  the  trustees  to  be  elected  by  the 
alumni.  Again  they  sometimes  elect  trustees  at  large.  There  are 
still  other  methods  of  electing  trustees.  For  instance,  the  University 
of  South  Carolina  has  a  part  of  its  board  elected  by  the  city  council 
of  the  city  in  which  it  is  located.  These  boards  vary  in  their  member- 
ship from  five  to  fifty  in  number.  There  is  but  very  little  uniformity  in 
their  method  of  selection;  at  all  events,  they  are  selected  by  the  differ- 
ent church  bodies  which  control  the  institution. 

Passing  now  to  the  state  universities,  which  are  not  considered  in 
law  as  corporations,  at  least  by  some  of  our  courts,  but  as  a  part  of 
the  public  educational  system  of  the  state  to  which  they  belong,  we 
find  quite  as  many  methods  of  selecting  trustees  by  those  institutions 
as  in  any  of  the  others  mentioned.  It  perhaps  would  be  proper  to 
start  with  the  University  of  Michigan,  inasmuch  as  I  believe  it  is  now 
the  largest  institution  in  point  of  number  of  students.  The  University 
of  Michigan  selects  its  trustees,  or  regents  as  they  are  called,  by  popu- 
lar vote.  They  are  nominated  at  political  conventions,  and  submit 
their  claims  to  the  electors  of  the  state.  I  must  confess  that  there  is 
something  attractive  about  this  method  of  selecting  trustees.  It  is 
rather  captivating.  The  electors  of  the  state  are  representatives  of 
the  taxing  powers  of  the  state.     The  taxing  powers  of  the  state  are 

(94) 


95 

the  ones  who  nourish  and  sustain  the  institution.  That  is  quite 
democratic,  and  it  seems  to  me  useful  in  bringing  home  to  every 
elector  in  the  state  the  fact  that  he  has  a  duty  to  perform  in  respect 
to  the  state  university  of  the  state  of  which  he  is  an  elector.  This 
system  has  worked  very  well  in  Michigan.  The  university  of  Michi- 
gan has  a  large  number  of  alumni.  They  see  to  it  that  proper  men  are 
nominated  by  the  different  political  parties,  and  are  elected  to  the 
office.  A  rather  remarkable  circumstance  took  place  just  recently  in 
that  state  in  respect  to  the  election  of  a  regent.  Mr.  Peter  White  of 
the  upper  peninsula,  a  man  of  large  business  capacity,  who  had  served 
for  some  forty  years  on  the  board  of  education  of  his  city,  was  nomi- 
nated by  a  republican  convention  as  regent,  although  he  was  a  demo- 
crat. 

In  Indiana  they  have  a  still  different  method.  There  the  state 
board  of  education  elects  the  board  of  trustees  and  the  alumni  fill 
vacancies.  I  presume  this  is  done  upon  the  theory  that  the  state 
board  of  education  represents  the  state  in  all  that  concerns  the  vital 
interests  of  the  institution;  and  the  alumni  represents  the  students 
and  those  who  have  patronized  it.  Such  an  arrangement  could  not, 
for  constitutional  reasons,  take  place  in  Ohio.  There  the  constitution 
requires  the  trustees  of  all  public  institutions  to  be  appointed  bv  the 
governor,  thus  recognizing  that  as  an  executive  act.  Rutherford  B. 
Hayes  appointed  the  first  board  of  trustees  of  the  Ohio  State  Univer- 
sity. After  serving  as  President  of  the  United  States  he  himself  was 
appointed  as  member  of  that  board,  and  served  in  that  capacity  for 
five  or  six  years,  and  died  while  rendering  that  institution  that  service. 
There  are,  perhaps,  some  advantages  to  be  obtained  in  having  the 
board  appointed  by  the  governor.  Men  like  General  Haves  will  accept 
an  appointment  from  the  governor,  but  would  hesitate  to  submit  their 
claims  to  the  electors  of  the  state.  Since  that  institution  has  been 
organized,  seven  out  of  eleven  of  the  governors  were  college  bred  men. 
So  that  so  far  as  the  appointment  is  concerned,  we  have  had  men  fully 
qualified  by  reason  of  having  come  through  different  universities  to 
make  such  appointments.  The  other  governors  were  men  of  large 
business  and  public  experience,  and  were  also  well  qualified  to  make 
such  appointments.  There  is  one  advantage  that  may  arise  where  the 
appointment  is  made  by  the  governor  rather  than  where  the  election 
is  had.  Of  course,  in  a  state  like  Michigan,  where  one  political  party 
controls  the  state  year  after  year,  unless  there  is  an  exception,  as  in 
Mr.  White's  case,  the  men  who  are  elected  to  the  board  are  all  of  one 
political  party.  Whereas,  in  a  state  like  Ohio,  where  they  are  appointed 
by  the  governor,  the  members  of  the  board  may  be  appointed  from 
either  of  the  political  parties.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  by  an  unwritten 
law  of  the  state  the  board  of  trustees  of  the  Ohio  State  University, 
consisting  of  seven  members,   has  been  four  republicans  and  three 

(95) 


96 

democrats,  politics  being  entirely  eliminated  from  consideration  in 
making  the  appointments  excepting  that  the  governors  take  the  view 
that  this  is  about  the  prqper  proportion  between  the  two  leading 
parties.  I  can  see  an  advantage  that  would  arise  in  a  state  like  Indi- 
ana, where  a  part  of  the  trustees  are  selected  by  the  alumni.  In  such 
cases  the  alumni  would  probably  pay  no  attention  to  politics. 

In  Iowa  they  have  a  still  different  method  of  selecting  trustees. 
The  governor  and  superintendent  of  public  instruction  are  ex  officio 
members  of  the  board.  -A  trustee  is  selected  by  the  legislature  for 
each  congressional  district.  That  could  not  take  place  in  some  of  the 
other  states,  because  the  legislatures  are  confined  to  legislative  duties 
by  constitutional  provisions  and  they  would  not  be  permitted  to  make 
an  appointment  to  office.  In  California,  the  state  university  has, 
I  think,  state  officers  who  are  ex  officio  members  of  the  board,  and  a 
number  of  them  are  appointed  by  the  governor.  Let  us  see  what  we 
have  in  respect  to  these  institutions.  We  have  trustees  who  are  ex 
officio  officers  of  the  institution ;  they  obtain  their  office  as  trustees  by 
virtue  of  holding  some  other  office.  Probably  when  the  people  elect 
them  to  that  particular  office  of  governor  or  lieutenant  governor  or 
superintendent  of  public  instruction,  or  whatever  it  may  be,  they  do 
not  have  in  mind  the  minor  position,  and  they  would  consider  the 
office  of  trustee  a  minor  position  as  compared  with  the  other,  and  in 
their  selection  the  interests  of  the  institution  which  they  are  called 
upon  to  serve  is  not  taken  into  account.  The  legislature,  however, 
in  its  wisdom  has  seen  fit  to  make  these  officers  members  of  boards  of 
trustees. 

We  have,  therefore,  trustees  elected  by  the  people,  those  appointed 
by  the  governor,  and  those  selected  by  a  state  board  of  public  instruc- 
tion, those  elected  by  the  alumni,  those  appointed  by  courts,  those 
appointed  by  city  councils,  and  those  who  are  appointed  by  the  other 
members  of  the  board.  There  is  absolutely  no  system  in  this  country 
in  respect  to  the  appointment  of  boards  of  trustees. 

There  has  recently  sailed  in  the  north  Atlantic  a  band  of  some  forty 
young  men  bound  for  Oxford,  men  who  are  appointed  to  enjoy  the 
Cecil  Rhodes  Scholarships.  When  Cecil  Rhodes  was  approaching  dis- 
solution, although  he  had  taken  part  as  a  statesman  in  forming  a  part 
of  the  British  Empire ;  although  he  had  taken  part  in  providing  in  the 
future  for  the  education  of  a  certain  class  of  youth  from  all  over  the 
world,  he  remarked  to  those  about  him  that  there  was  much  to  do  and 
so  little  done.  I  take  it  that  any  man  or  woman,  upon  being  selected 
to  a  membership  to  these  boards,  if  they  will  only  appreciate  the 
sentiment  of  Cecil  Rhodes  and  bring  to  their  office  the  sentiment  that 
there  is  so  much  to  do  and  so  little  done,  that  it  will  make  but  very 
little  difference  what  the  manner  of  their  appointment  is. 


(96) 


97 

DISCUSSION 

James  E.  Armstrong 
Former  Trustee,  University  of  Illinois 

I  can  give  you  a  discussion  on  this  subject  from  no  broad  stand- 
point. After  the  thorough  discussion  of  the  question  to  which  we 
have  just  listened,  it  would  be  unnecessary  for  me  to  attempt  to  dis- 
cuss, if  I  could,  that  phase  of  the  subject. 

I  am  glad  to  give  you  in  a  few  statements  a  brief  account  of  our 
experience  in  Illinois  and  something  of  the  way  it  works,  at  least,  as  it 
seems  to  me.  As  students  in  the  University  in  the  early  days,  it  seemed  to 
many  of  us  that  this  University  was  not  coming  to  the  notice  of  the  peo- 
ple of  the  State  in  the  way  it  ought  to.  It  seemed  as  if  we  were  strug- 
ling  along  without  making  very  much  progress ;  and  we  felt  with  great 
chagrin  the  fact  that  the  people  of  the  State,  wherever  we  went,  knew 
but  little  of  the  University.  People  who  ought  to  know  a  great  deal 
about  the  educational  interests  of  the  State  scarcely  knew  that  we  had 
a  State  University,  or  knew  that  the  taxpayers  of  the  State  were  con- 
tributing to  the  support  of  that  institution.  Although,  perhaps,  the 
idea  did  not  originate  entirely  with  the  boys  and  girls  who  were  in 
school  as  students,  yet  that  thought  took  hold  of  us  in  such  a  way 
that  I  think  in  later  years  the  alumni  of  the  University  were  the  prime 
movers  in  changing  the  law.  Without  any  attempt  or  intention  to 
cast  any  reflection  on  the  men  who  served  under  the  old  plan,  or  at- 
tempt at  flatterv  to  those  who  served  under  the  new,  I  will  say  it 
seemed  to  us,  and  I  presume  it  is  a  somewhat  common  experience, 
that  the  executive  of  the  State  did  not  always  have  the  University  of 
the  State  uppermost  in  his  heart.  He  did  not  think  very  much  about 
the  interests  of  the  little  institution  many  miles  away  from  the  capital 
of  the  State;  seldom  seeing  anything  of  the  working  of  the  University; 
feeling  no  great  pride  in  the  institution ;  he  did  not  give  it  the  care  that 
an  educational  institution  ought  to  have  in  the  appointment  of  the 
trustees.  While  I  presume  all  governors  gave  enough  thought  to  it 
to  appoint  some  good  men,  some  earnest  men,  some  men  who  had  good 
educational  ideas  and  ideals,  they  did  appoint  many  who  were  indiffer- 
ent, who  accepted  the  position  as  an  honor,  and  never  felt  obliged  to 
discharge  the  trust.  I  think  that  the  need  we  felt  was  that  our  trustees 
might  have  a  broader  outlook  as  to  the  future  of  the  University.  I 
shall  never  forget  the  meeting  of  the  board  of  trustees  at  which  an  old 
member  of  the  board  was  giving  some  advice  to  the  new.  He  was 
giving  the  advice  which  came  out  of  his  experience,  and  perhaps  he 
was  not  to  blame  for  the  things  which  happened  so  much  as  were  the 
conditions  that  surrounded  his  position,  which  I  shall  try  to  bring  out. 
He  cautioned  the  new  board  to  be  conservative.  "  Do  not  go  too  fast," 
he  said.  "Do  not  ask  for  a  large  appropriation  of  money."  He 
tried  to  impress  upon  us  the  fact  that  if  we  should  make  a  mistake 

(97) 


98       ■ 

before  the  legislature  of  the  State,  by  presenting  extravagant  demands, 
that  we  might  be  dealt  with  in  such  a  way  that  the  institution  would 
suffer  seriously,  and  we  might  be  cut  off  entriely  from  support,  and 
the  institution  would  have  to  be  abandoned.  He  was  giving  this  out 
of  the  fullness  of  his  heart  and  his  experience,  and  believed  it  was 
right.  A  younger  member  of  the  board,  in  fact,  I  believe  it  was  the 
present  chairman,  Mr.  Bullard,  made  some  such  remark  as  this:  "It 
occurs  to  me  that  we  have  been  elected  to  our  places  by  the  people  of 
the  State  of  Illinois.  We  have  a  sacred  trust.  The  same  people  that 
elected  the  members  of  the  legislature  elected  us  to  care  for  the 
interests  of  this  institution  of  learning;  and,  if  we,  as  members  of  the 
Board  of  Trustees,  of  this  institution,  do  not  convey  to  the  legislature 
the  needs  of  the  institution,  who  is  going  to  do  it,  and  how  are  they 
going  to  find  it  out?  Should  not  the  responsibility  rest  upon  us  to 
present  to  the  legislature  our  estimate  of  what  the  institution  needs 
and  then  leave  it  entirely  to  the  legislature  to  say  whether  or  not  it 
shall  be  done?  If  they  refuse  the  responsibility  will  be  on  them." 
Well,  the  result  of  that  little  discussion  was  that  one  member  after 
another  of  that  body  joined  in  the  sentiment  of  the  last  speaker,  and 
it  seems  to  me  that  in  that  discussion  was  born  a  new  life  for  this 
University. 

The  policy  was  entirely  changed.  To  go  back  to  the  history  of 
the  evolution  again,  it  seemed  to  me  that  the  opinion  of  that  retiring 
member  of  the  board  was  the  dominant  idea  of  the  appointed  members 
of  the  board.  Perhaps  it  is  not  a  true  view,  but  it  seemed  in  the  old 
days  that  the  average  member  of  the  board  of  trustees  felt  that  his 
appointment  from  the  governor  meant  simply  a  reflection  of  the  gov- 
ernor's views  of  the  situation;  that  he  must  keep  close  in  touch  with 
the  governor's  views,  and  must  not  proceed  any  beyond  the  governor's 
plans,  which  might  be  entirely  political,  and  consequently  there  was 
no  progress,  no  independence.  Another  thought  in  connection  with 
the  change  from  the  appointive  to  the  elective  board  was  the  fact  that 
it  in  some  way  brought  to  the  notice  of  the  taxpayers  of  the  State, 
more  forciblv,  the  fact  that  they  had  a  State  University,  which  fact 
we  knew  they  did  not  wholly  appreciate.  Every  two  years  names 
were  presented  at  the  various  political  conventions  for  trustees  of  the 
University;  these  names  appeared  upon  the  ballots,  and  the  people 
of  the  State  commenced  to  understand  that  in  a  peculiar  sense  this 
institution  belonged  to  the  people ;  that  it  was  not  a  private  institution. 
I  dare  say  there  are  few  people  in  this  State  who  know  how  many 
charitable  institutions,  and  various  institutions  for  the  care  of  children, 
there  are  in  the  State,  supported  by  the  public  tax.  Their  names 
never  appear  on  the  ballot.  Their  trustees  are  chosen  by  the  governor 
in  a  private  way  and  their  names  scarcely  appear  in  the  public  press, 
unless  it  is  just  a  passing  notice  that  they  have  been  called  to  those 

(98) 


99 

positions,  and  so  attract  but  little  attention.  Of  course  there  is 
considerable  difference  in  the  need  of  the  public  knowing  about  this. 
But  it  is  not  so  with  the  educational  institutions.  Very  few  of  the 
people  knew  of  this  institution  under  the  old  plan. 

By  the  new  plan  it  is  forced  upon  their  attention,  and  they  must 
recognize  that  they  have  some  peculiar  relation  to  that  institution 
they  are  paying  taxes  to  support.  When  an  appointive  board  goes 
before  the  legislature  of  the  State — men  appointed  by  a  governor  who 
stands  with  one  hand  on  the  treasury  and  the  other  upon  the  legisla- 
ture— they  will  feel  the  peculiar  relation  in  which  they  stand  to  the 
governor  and  the  legislature.  A  man  who  is  elected  by  the  people  of 
the  State,  on  the  same  ticket  with  the  governor,  and  elected  in  the 
same  way  as  the  members  of  the  legislature,  can  be  very  much  more 
independent.  He  will  not  be  influenced  at  all  by  the  feeling  that 
would  influence  the  man  who  is  appointed  to  his  position  by  the 
governor.  I  think  it  has  given  the  trustees  of  the  State  University 
the  greatest  courage  in  going  before  the  legislature,  to  say:  "Gentle- 
men, we  need  thus  and  so;  and  you  need  not  tell  us  we  have  no  right 
here;  we  came  just  as  you  came,  and  we  are  obliged  to  present  to  you 
in  a  dignified  way  the  needs  of  that  institution."  I  think  it  had  a 
great  influence  in  the  marvelous  growth  of  this  institution  during  the 
last  ten  or  fifteen  vears. 

There  is  one  other  feature  about  this  elective  system  in  the  State 
of  Illinois  that  was  not  contemplated  in  the  change,  which  I  think  has 
been  of  great  benefit.  I  cannot  give  you  the  full  history  of  that 
movement.  It  is  unnecessary  perhaps  to  do  so,  more  than  to  say  in 
passing  that  soon  after  the  enactment  of  this  new  law  the  women  of 
the  State  were  given  the  right  to  vote  for  trustees  and  for  school 
officers.  It  gave  the  women  of  the  State  a  new  and  peculiar  interest 
in  the  aft'airs  of  the  University ;  and  ever  since  that  we  have  had  three 
able  women  who  have  taken  their  part  in  the  affairs  of  the  University. 
They  have  looked  after  the  side  which  is  usually  neglected  by  the  men, 
and  they  have  had  an  interest  in  the  things  that  concern  our  sisters 
and  daughters.  They  have  looked  after  the  home  side  of  the  college 
life.  They  have  looked  after  the  finer  side  of  the  culture  of  our  boys 
and  girls,  young  men  and  young  women.  I  think  they  have  been  of 
great  service  to  the  people  of  the  State.  Thev  seek  their  nomination 
in  the  same  way  that  men  do.  I  think  all  those  things,  from  the  stand- 
point of  the  State,  have  assumed  large  porportions,  much  larger  than 
were  in  the  thought  of  any  one  who  had  this  in  mind  at  the  beginning. 
I  should  be  very  sorry  indeed  if  the  new  law  were  changed  to  make 
the  election  of  the  members  of  the  board  a  local  one.  No  one  should 
be  elected  to  represent  Sangamon  County,  although  we  have  a  very 
able  representative  from  that  county  who  has  served  long  and  well. 
He  is,  however,  not  elected  to  represent  Sangamon  County;  he  repre- 

(99) 


100 

sents  the  State  of  Illinois.  If  any  man  were  elected  to  that  position 
to  represent  a  certain  county  or  precinct  or  congressional  district,  he 
would  be  handicapped  immediately.  A  man  would  feel,  under  those 
circumstances,  he  was  obliged  to  do  something  for  his  own  community 
and  would  cease  to  be  the  great  public  servant,  such  as  he  can  be  only 
when  his  interests  extend  to  the  interests  of  the  State  at  large,  repre- 
senting all  the  people  of  the  State. 

The  point  has  been  presented  by  many  of  our  speakers  as  to  the 
influence  of  the  alumni.  I  would  be  very  sorry  to  see  a  change  made 
under  the  law  that  would  require  a  certain  number  of  the  members  of 
the  board  to  belong  to  the  alumni;  or  that  the  alumni  should  in  some 
way  ofhcially  represent  the  institution.  I  do  not  believe  it  would  be 
wise.  We  should  lose  a  great  deal  more  than  we  should  gain;  because 
people  would  naturally  feel  that  the  graduates  of  that  institution 
believe  the  institution  belongs  to  them.  We  do  not  want  to  relinquish 
any  of  the  interest  of  the  taxpayers  of  the  State.  We  want  them  to 
feel  more  and  more  that  this  is  their  institution.  There  are  plenty  of 
ways  for  the  alumni  to  exert  their  influence.  It  has  been  shown  by 
the  history  of  some  sixteen  years  that  it  is  not  difficult  for  those  who 
are  interested  to  get  together  and  to  decide  that  they  will  make  an 
effort  as  a  body  of  citizens  to  influence  the  convention  to  have  a  cer- 
tain member  of  the  alumni  nominated.  Just  so  the  women  get 
together  and  decide  that  they  will  send  their  delegations  and  use  their 
influence  to  have  a  certain  woman  placed  on  the  ticket.  That  has 
been  sufficient  to  secure  a  representation  of  women  on  the  board,  and 
two  or  three  alumni  at  a  time  ever  since  the  beginning  of  the  system. 
If  we  should  go  too  far  in  that  direction  we  would  do  the  cause  great  harm. 

Perhaps  we  might  make  an  improvement  in  our  system  in  one  par- 
ticular, in  regard  to  minority  representation,  alluded  to  by  Mr.  Jones. 
In  states  that  are  strongly  one-sided,  politically,  I  believe  minority 
representation  would  be  desirable.  Not  that  I  think  anything  would 
be  done  for  political  reasons  by  a  board.  I  am  sure  my  own  experi- 
ence on  this  Board  would  bear  me  out  in  that.  Here  a  democratic 
board  elected  a  man  who  was  a  strong  republican,  to  the  presidency 
of  this  University.  I  refer  to  the  Ex-president  Andrew  Sloan  Draper. 
At  the  same  time  I  think  that  in  certain  quarters  there  would  be  a 
feeling  of  more  personal  interest  in  the  situation,  if  there  were  a  plan 
for  minoritv  representation  on  the  board.  This  seems  like  a  very 
personal  history,  and  perhaps  we  people  of  Illinois  take  more  pride  in 
this  than  we  ought  to.  Perhaps  what  they  are  doing  in  institutions 
in  other  states  is  very  much  preferable  to  what  we  are  doing.  But 
from  my  standpoint  it  seems  to  be  working  well,  and  I  do  believe  that 
a  certain  part  of  the  great  prosperity  of  this  institution  is  due  to  the 
fact  that  this  institution  has  been  so  thoroughly  advertised  through 
the  method  of  selecting  its  trustees. 

(100) 


101 

SUBORDINATE    ADMINISTRATIVE    POSITIONS    IN    A    UNI- 
VERSITY ORGANIZATION 

Dean  Eugene  Davenport 
Director  of  the  Agricultural  Experiment  Station,   University  of  Illinois 

This  is  the  fourth  session  of  the  Trustees'  Conference.  The  presi- 
dency has  been  discussed,  the  best  methods  of  selecting  trustees,  and 
many  other  questions  of  first  importance  in  university  affairs.  Wisely 
or  unwisely  I  accepted  the  invitation  to  speak  upon  the  present  topic 
and  I  invite  your  attention  now,  at  this  closing  session,  to  the  working 
points  of  a  uni\'ersitv  organization ;  to  the  departments  where  subjects 
are  taught,  where  investigations  are  conducted,  and  where  the  actual 
work  is  done  for  which  institutions  of  this  kind  are  founded. 

Universities  are  established  because  the  people  recognize  needs 
which  they  themselves  cannot  satisfy.  The  citizens  of  this  State,  for 
example,  have  declared  that  the  arts  and  sciences  shall  be  taught  to 
their  sons  and  daughters  liberally,  and  that  certain  investigations 
shall  be  conducted  directly  for  the  public  good.  They  have  laid  these 
obligations  upon  the  university.  It  in  turn  has  established  certain 
departments  to  do  the  work,  and  here,  in  these  departments,  :s  where 
the  primary  obligations  of  the  institution  are  discharged.  Whatever 
other  good  offices  mav  be  fulfilled  either  incidentally  or  by  the  uni- 
versity as  a  whole,  it  is  here  in  these  departments  that  the  work  is 
done  for  which  universities  are  established;  and  it  is  my  purpose  to" 
inquire  how  it  fares  with  the  people  of  these  departments  under  the 
various  theories  of  university  organization  that  are  either  in  actual 
operation  or  stronglv  advocated. 

Again,  certain  of  the  purposes  which  the  people  have  declared 
should  be  accomplished  require  the  service  of  more  than  one  depart- 
ment. Accordingly  various  groupings  have  been  formed  to  meet 
these  wider  needs  in  the  most  direct  manner  possible ;  and  so  we  have 
our  colleges  and  schools,  as  they  are  called  when  the  group  is  given 
mainly  to  teaching,  and  experiment  stations  when  devoted  entirely 
research.  Thus  the  service  of  the  institution  is  exceedingly  compli- 
cated; the  need  of  organization  and  of  suborganization  is  real;  prob- 
lems of  adjustment  are  bound  to  arise  here  and  there  for  settlement, 
and  administration  of  some  sort  is  both  natural  and  necessary. 

I  shall  try  to  bring  out  the  distinction  between  teaching  and  re- 
search upon  the  one  hand,  and  administration  upon  the  other;  and 
incidentally  to  show,  if  I  can,  which  of  these  two  enjoys  primary 
rights  in  a  university  organization,  and  which  exists  for  the  other. 

We  hear  much  in  these  days  of  "strong  administration"  and  the 
"free  hand,"  whatever  that  may  mean;  but  we  hear  little  of  the  pur- 
pose to  be  attained  thereby.  Is  it  to  facilitate  the  work  of  the  de- 
partments,  or  to  govern  the  faculty?     Whose  hand  is  to  be  free? 

(101) 


102 

These  are  deep  questions,  and  their  answer  is  of  moment,  first  to  the 
individuals  who  occupy  university  positions  of  subordinate  rank, 
afterward  to  the  class  of  service  rendered  the  public,  and  in  the  last 
analysis  to  the  reputation  and  the  future  of  the  university. 

It  will  save  time  and  contribute  to  clearness  of  understanding  if  I 
confess  at  the  outset  that  this  paper  is  intended  as  a  protest  against 
what  is  regarded  by  many  as  an  encroachment  of  administration  upon 
work  of  a  university,  to  the  injury  of  the  service  and  the  discomfort 
and  damage  of  men.  The  evidence  of  this  encroachment  is  the  grow- 
ing use  of  he  word  "administration,"  with  its  collateral  terms  and 
phrases,  instead  of  the  word  "organization." 

Now  there  are  two  theories  of  university  management.  They  are 
clear-cut,  distinct,  and  diametrically  opposite,  in  what  are  considered 
as  fundamental  principles.  Of  necessity  they  lead  their  followers  to 
conclusions  as  wide  apart  as  are  the  principles  on  which  they  are  based. 
The  one  looks  upon  a  university  as  a  great  administrative  machine 
complete  in  all  its  parts,  with  regular  gradations  from  top  to  bottom 
and  from  center  to  circumference,  each  deriving  its  sole  authority 
from  the  next  above  — military  fashion.  The  other  looks  upon  a 
university  as  an  aggregation  of  working  unity  (departments),,  and  of 
groups  of  departments  (colleges,  schools,  and  experiment  stations), 
each  engaged  in  the  achievement  of  particular  and  definite  ends,  to 
which  all  organization  is  secondary  and  subservient;  each  finding 
sufficient  authoritv  for  its  ivork  in  the  nature  of  its  obligation ;  each 
accountable  to  superior  (administrative)  officers  for  results. 

The  one  regards  the  head  of  a  department  as  a  subordinate  in  every 
sense  of  the  term,  placing  administration  ahead  of  and  over  all  other 
considerations.  The  other  regards  him  as  a  subordinate  only  in  an 
administrative  sense,  but  as  a  chief  in  a  working  sense.  Indeed  I 
question  the  propriety  of  using  the  word  subordinate,  in  any  sense,  as 
applied  to  so  important  an  officer  as  the  head  of  a  working  department 
of  a  university ;  and  the  present  use  of  the  term  in  this  sense  only  shows 
the  extent  of  the  administrative  hold  upon  university  ideals. 

The  one  regards  administration  as  the  principal,  as  it  is  the  most 
conspicious  feature  of  university  service;  the  other  regards  work  in 
the  department  as  primary  and  administration  as  secondary ;  necessary 
not  to  work,  but  to  the  coordination  of  work. 

The  one  seems  to  consider  administration  as  a  thing  good  in  itself; 
the  other  regards  it  as  a  means  of  facilitating  business,  a  clearing-house 
of  university  affairs,  entirely  subordinate  to  the  real  work  of  the 
institution. 

The  one  theorv  of  universitv  management  is  simple  and  direct 
because  it  either  disregards  or  subordinates  all  other  considerations 
to  those  of  administration.  In  its  simplicity  lies  its  danger,  for  it 
sacrifices  even  the  primary  responsibilities  of  the  head  of  a  depart- 

(102) 


103 

ment  to  the  demands  and  the  operations  of  a  well-rounded  admin- 
istrative machine.  In  its  directness  is  its  injury ;  for,  by  the 
edict  of  authority  it  secures  promptly,  even  on  the  instant,  certain 
results  to  which  it  may  have  set  its  hand  even  though  it  override  every 
other  consideration.  Nobody  sees  the  trail  of  blood,  but  everybody 
admires  the  spectacular  way  in  which  it  was  done.  The  army  without 
orders  is  idle.  It  has  but  one  thing  to  do,  obey.  A  university  is  always 
busy  executing  commissions  and  discharging  obligations,  without 
orders,  and  nobody  realizes  how  the  edicts  of  a  strong  "administra- 
tion," erratic  as  they  often  are,  plow  through  the  very  center  of  uni- 
versitv  work.  So  the  means  becomes  the  end,  and  obedience  to 
authoritv  the  highest  duty.  Here  is  the  danger  to  university,  life, 
the  intoxication  of  unbridled  power. 

The  alternative  is  more  difficult,  for  it  is  more  complicated.  It 
recognizes  the  primary  obligation  of  work  and  ass\3mes  that  the  details 
of  administration  shall  fit  the  exigencies  of  service.  This  precludes 
an  ideal  organization  according  to  the  conception  of  the  professional 
administrationist ;  but  the  obligation  of  public  service  is  primary  and 
supreme,  and  in  some  way  a  plan  of  organization  must  be  devised  that 
will  recognize  and  take  account  of  the  naturally 'busy  centers  where 
original  obligations  are  discharged. 

Xow  the  heart  and  core  and  soul  of  the  one  theory  of  university 
organization  is  authority,  absolute  authority,  expressed  in  terms  of 
administration.  According  to  this  system  all  action  is  based  upon 
authority,  which,  whether  expressed  or  implied,  is  delegated  from  one 
central  point,  the  head  of  the  system.  The  heart  and  core  and  soul  of 
the  opposition  is  that  the  primary  authority  and  rights  of  the  individual 
arise  out  of  the  nature  of  the  obligations  he  has  assumed;  that  heads 
of  departments,  deans  of  colleges,  directors  of  experiment  stations, 
presidents  of  universities,  boards  of  control,  all  have  their  distinct 
and  definite  duties  and  obligations;  that  properly  understood,  these 
obligations  do  not  overlap,  nor  do  the  fields  conflict;  so  that  it  is  a 
safe  principle  that  each  responsibility  carries  with  it  enough  author- 
ity to  discharge  the  obligation,  and  each  responsible  individual  is  su- 
preme in  affairs  lying  clearly  within  the  range  of  his  activities,  and 
free  to  do  those  things  that  will  most  directly  and  completely  dis- 
charge his  obligations.  This  theory  calls  for  less  authority  and  more 
work. 

The  advocates  of  strong  administrations  demand  one  central 
source  of  authority ;  the  opposition  recognizes  as  many  sources  as  there 
are  lines  to  be  served  and  individuals  charged  with  their  management. 
.  It  maintains  that  this  authority  was  neither  handed  down  from  above 
nor  delegated  from  below,  but  that  it  is  inherent  in  responsibility, 
was  involved  in  the  original  engagement,  and  was  conferred  at  the 
time  and  by  the  same  authority  that  made  the  appointment  to  office, 

(103) 


104 

all  of  which  is  held  to  be  a  good  and  safe  principle  for  every  man  in 
the  university,  from  the  humblest  assistant  up  to  the  trustees  them- 
selves; and,  whether  the  field  be  wide  or  narrow,  the  responsibility 
little  or  great,  there  is  always  involved  authority  sufficient  to  discharge 
its  obligations. 

The  advocates  of  a  strong  administration  represent  that  university 
men  are  singularly  lacking  in  judgment,  and  are  valuable  in  proportion 
as  they  are  managed;  that  but  few  men  have  talent  in  this  direction 
and  that  therefore  administration  rises  to  the  plane  of  a  profession, 
being  the  one  thing  needful  to  insure  results.  These  men  look  upon 
those  suited  for  administration  as  of  a  different  order  from  other  men 
and  removed  from  the  mass  by  an  impassable  gulf ;  they  look  upon 
subordinates  in  a  university  like  those  in  an  army,  as  not  possessing 
original  authority  of  any  kind,  but  as  aids  only  to  transmit   orders. 

The  opposition  contends  that  this  system  will  retain  only  medi- 
ocrity in  university  positions ;  that  the  nature  of  department  service  is 
such  as  to  require  not  only  technical  knowledge  and  skill,  but  personal 
initiative  as  well,  together  with  large  freedom  of  action;  and  that  the 
plan  of  management  through  administrative  authority,  though  giving 
rise  to  a  gerat  show  of  activity  at  central  points,  yet  removes  the  most 
powerful  incentives  to  individual  exertion,  and  fails  to  call  out  and 
make  effective  more  than  a  small  fraction  of  the  tremendous  forces 
latent  in  the  personnel  of  a  great  university. 

The  so-called  "strong  administration"  has  the  advantage  in  the 
eyes  of  those  who  look  on,  or  those  who  are  more  familiar  with  the 
business  side  of  university  aff'airs,  than  with  the  extensive  and  com- 
plicated work  necessary  to  discharge  university  obligations.  They  who 
do  not  get  behind  the  foot-lights  see  little  of  the  consequences  of  too 
much  administration. 

The  opposition  is  accused  of  advocating  a  weak  system  and  of 
attempting  to  break  down  administrative  authority.  That  makes 
the  subject  difficult  of  discussion  because  of  the  charge  of  disloyalty 
that  is  thrown  around  the  case  at  the  outset.  But  discussion  is  not 
rebellion,  and  the  discussion  of  this  question  has  become  inevitable. 

Nothing  is  further  from  the  purposes  of  the  writer  than  to  advocate 
a  weak  organization,  and  no  one  knows  better  than  he  what  are  its 
certain  consequences.  It  has  always  been  true  that  a  weak  organi- 
zation leaves  boards  of  trustees  at  sea.  In  this  condition  they  soon 
attempt  to  manage  details  themselves.  Abandoning  their  proper 
functions  as  legislative  bodies,  they  undertake  the  easier  role  of  ad- 
ministration, acting  as  their  own  executive.  The  consequences  of 
this  are  even  more  disastrous  than  those  of  too  much  administration.  I 
assure  you  there  is  no  thought  of  weakness  in  anybody's  mind.  The 
question  is  whether  the  system  shall  hang  pendant  from  the  sky,  held 
together  only  by  authority  from  above,  or  be  built  upon  a  foundation 

(104) 


105 

laid  in  department  work  and  held  together  by  graded  authority  aris- 
ing out  of  responsibility  for  work  accomplished. 

Whichever  svstem  shall  prevail  the  heads  of  departments  must 
continue  to  do  business  and  meet  their  obligations  to  the  public  the 
best  thev  can,  and  I  desire  to  call  your  attention  to  certain  considera- 
tions that  seem  to  the  writer  fundamentally  essential  to  the  success  of 
these  officers  who,  though  subordinate  in  an  administrative  sense,  are 
yet  the  ones  through  n'hom  the  university  must  meet  and  discharge  the 
bulk  of  its  obligations  before  the  people. 

Everv  man  speaks  from  personal  bias,  born  of  his  experience  and 
his  point  of  view.  Before  continuing  I  should  like  to  assure  you  that  I 
am  not  the  head  of  a  department,  much  as  I  shall  argue  for  the  rights 
of  that  officer.  I  am  speaking  from  the  standpoint  of  a  middle  man 
in  administrative  affairs,  subordinate  to  the  president,  superior  to 
heads  of  departments.  Probably  as  Dean  of  the  College  of  Agriculture 
I  have  no  claims  that  I  could  mention  here  as  a  sufficient  warrant 
to  be  heard.  As  director  of  a  large  Experiment  Station,  however,  and 
as  administrative  head  of  a  group  of  departments  discharging  large 
and  difficult  obligations  appealing  directly  to  the  people,  the  case  is 
somewhat  different.  Even  then  I  would  not  venture  to  lay  my 
experience  and  opinion  before  you  did  I  not  feel  assured  that  they 
represent,  essentially,  the  views  held  by  the  leading  men  of  this  Uni- 
versity, who  are  anxious  beyond  measure  that  a  form  of  organization 
shall  prevail  in  which  all  can  take  an  intelligent  part,  a  part  worthy  of 
men  bearing  heavy  responsibilities. 

The  principles  and  practices  I  shall  advocate  are  those  that  we 
have  hammered  out  together  in  the  Experiment  Station  by  dint  of 
much  conference  and  careful  discussion  while  engaged  in  a  compli- 
cated and  difficult  public  service.  They  have  been  born  of  experience 
and  have  established  themselves  among  us  as  the  most  natural  methods 
of  work.  We  have  been  very  near  to  nature's  heart,  I  assure  you, 
and  we  have  felt  the  pulse  of  the  people,  for  their  needs  and  their 
demands  are  clear-cut  and  real.  The  responsibilities  they  have  im- 
posed upon  the  University  have  been  laid  upon  us,  of  necessity,  with 
only  the  most  general  instructions.  They  have  been  both  difficult 
and  dangerous.  Our  system  accordingly  has  been  devised  with  the 
one  purpose  of  facilitating  work  and  securing  results. 

Whether  the  principles  and  practices  herein  advocated  are  sound 
or  whether  they  are  false,  of  this  I  am  assured, — if  I,  as  Director, 
had  attempted  to  maintian  a  so-called  "close  administration"  over 
these  departments,  we  should  have  all  broken  down  together  long  ago. 

Let  me  tell  you  first,  as  a  basis,  something  of  the  conditions  under 
which  we  have  wrought  together,  in  this  organization  of  which  I  am 
now  speaking.  Until  six  years  ago  the  total  funds  of  this  Experiment 
Station   were   815,000 'a  year.        Suddenly   these   were   increased   to 

(105) 


106 


,000;  two  years  after  to  $90,000,  and  in  two  years -more  to  an  even 
$100,000,  where  they  now  stand. 

This  enormous  and  rapid  increase  brought  large  and  exceedingly 
definite  duties,  as  follows:  First,  live  stock  investigation,  especially 
in  meat  production,  to  the  extent  of  $25,000  annually;  second,  investi- 
gation into  the  production  of  corn,  wheat,  oats,  and  clover,  $15,000; 
third,  investigation  into  fruit  growing,  $15,000;  fourth,  investigation 
into  dairy  conditions  with  methods  for  their  improvement,  $15,000; 
fifth,  investigation  into  all  the  soils  of  the  state  with  plans  for  their 
permanent  treatment,  $25,000. 

This  is  an  array  of  conditions  that  may  well  appall  any  man,  or  set 
of  men,  and  certainly  tests  the  capacity  of  men  and  the  elasticity  and 
efficiency  of  an  organization.  I  have  heard  one  high  in  the  counsels 
of  this  University  say  that  the  institution  never  before  assumed  such 
tremendous  responsibilities,  as  when  it  accepted  these  appropriations. 
Let  me  show  you  what  is  involved  in  expending  $100,000  a  year  in 
investigational  lines  that  will  be  directly  beneficial  to  the  public. 

First,  it  is  an  enormous  amount  of  money,  more  than  $300  every 
day,  representing  the  net  returns  of  more  than  fifty  families. 

Second,  its  expenditure  is  through  a  thousand  channels.  It  is  not, 
as  in  erecting  a  building,  paid  out  on  a  few  contracts,  covering  large 
and  clearly  specified  values. 

Third,  the  service  is  not  along  approved  and  well-known  lines,  but 
is  largely  exploration  in  unknown  territory. 

Fourth,  the  scheme  affects  directly  every  principal  agricultural 
interest  in  the  state,  involving  thousands  of  people,  many  of  whom 
are  men  of  wealth,  position,  and  influence. 

At  the  outset  I  was  told  over  and  over  again  that  our  organization 
would  break  down  under  such  a  load  laid  suddenly  upon  us.  It  has 
not  been  broken  down  and  I  never  feared  that  it  would.  The  ma- 
chinery has  not  even  creaked,  and  we  have  been  exceedingly  happy 
together  in  rendering  a  service  that  requires  a  bulletin  issue  of  35,000 
for  each  edition,  and  that  long  ago  gave  rise  to  a  correspondence 
amounting  to  over  10,000  letters  a  year,  involving  some  of  the  most 
prominent  men  in  the  state,  the  nation,  and  the  world.  You  will 
pardon  this  somewhat  specific  allusion  to  our  affairs.  It  is  necessary 
to  what  I  have  to  sa3^ 

How  did  we  discharge  these  new  and  tremendous  obligations? 
Behold,  now,  I  show  you  a  mystery!  So  far  as  direct  responsibility 
is  concerned,  six  men  did  it.  One  of  these  is  the  director,  it  is  true; 
but  the  work  was  done,  and  is  being  done,  almost  entirely  without  the 
use  of  authority. 

Of  conference,  discussion,  and  planning,  of  objects  and  methods 
and  interpretation  of  results,  hours,  days,  yes  weeks,  have  been  spent 
on  the  part  of  these  six  men  and  their  assistants.      I  assure  there  was 

(106) 


107 

pre-arrangement  in  every  movement, — but  exercise  of  authority!  ! 
I  question  if  it  ever  occurred  to  anybody  to  use  it.  Almost  the  only 
authority  found  necessary  in  this  work  has  been  the  statute  appropri- 
ating the  funds,  the  election  of  employes  upon  the  approval  of  the 
President,  and  the  sanction  of  plans  and  appropriation  of  funds  by 
the  Trustees.  There  is  a  mass  of  authority  in  small  compass.  It 
does  not  touch  details,  yet  it  is  ample.  But  little  more  was  needed, 
and  that  in  the  way  of  relifeving  a  few  incompetents.  All  the  energy 
has  been  expended  in  the  accomplishment  of  work  after  the  simplest 
and  most  direct  manner  possible. 

Kindly  bear  in  mind  that  these  six  men  had  also  the  responsibility 
for  the  profitable  use  of  almost  an  equal  amount  of  money  for  teach- 
ing purposes,  and  that  within  the  six  years  the  total  number  of  em- 
ployes in  the  college  and  station  increased  from  a  dozen  to  nearly 
fifty,  so  that  the  responsibilities  to  which  I  have  alluded  in  some  detail 
are  but  a  part  of  the  full  labor  of  these  few  men.  I  beg  you  to  believe 
that  I  give  this  specific  example  with  the  sole  desire  to  show  you  what 
men  can  accomplish  when  conditions  are  favorable,  and  when  not 
annoyed  by  too  much  oversight  and  not  circumscribed  by  too  much 
administrative  direction. 

I  could  point  out  to  you  one  of  these  men  who  is  individually  and 
officially  responsible  for  the  profitable  use  of  over  $50,000  every  year, 
spent  in  his  department  alone  in  amounts  from  five  cents  up;  and  to 
another  whose  researches  bring  him  into  close  relations  with  the  most 
extensive  dealers  and  the  largest  business  interests  of  the  country. 
The  least  amount  for  which  any  one  of  the  four  principal  heads  is 
responsible  is  $25,000  a  year  and  each  has  his  special  clientele.  Think 
of  issuing  orders  to  that  kind  of  men!  What  would  be  their  state  of 
mind,  if  upon  returning  to  the  University  after  a  conference  with 
leading  citizens  upon  matters  involving  thousands  and  perhaps  mil- 
lions of  dollars  when  measured  by  public  utility,  or  upon  policies  ex- 
tending over  generations,  they  should  pick  up  and  read  specific  direc- 
tions covering  a  ten  dollar  detail,  or  be  compelled  to  take  the  time 
to  request  authority  to  dispose  of  a  superannuated  cow?  Yet  just 
such  things  are  done  and  required,  and  just  such  things  are  advocated 
in  the  name  of  administrative  solidarity  and  such  other  phrases  of 
obscure  meaning  but  of  great  power  to  confuse  when  real  issues  are  up. 

We  attribute  whatever  success  we  may  have  obtained  to  the  early 
and  mutual  recognition  of  a  few  principles  and  practices  that  can  be 
briefly  stated: 

1.  Service  to  the  public  was  the  only  object  recognized  as  legiti- 
mate, and  loyalty  to  the  University  and  all  its  interests  the  only 
restriction. 

2.  That  each  item  of  responsibility  must  be  carried  by  the  head 
of  that  department  best  fitted  to  discharge  the  obligation.     That  he 

(107) 


108 

should  have  all  the  funds  involved,  and  that  he  would  be  held  account- 
able for  results,  but  that  his  methods  and  the  details  of  his  work  were 
his  to  devise,  set  in  operation,  and  control. 

3.  That  the  head  of  the  department,  being  the  unit  of  responsi- 
bility is  therefore  the  unit  of  work,  and  the  natural  unit  of  organization 
and  of  authority;  and  that  he  is  supreme  in  the  afifairs  of  his  depart- 
ment up  to  the  point  at  which  they  touch  interests  wider  than  his  own. 

4.  That  each  department  should  attend  to  its  own  affairs  and  that 
details  should  be  settled  as  near  as  possible  to  the  point  of  origin, 
where  judgment  is  as  good  and  knowledge  of  facts  infinitely  better 
than  with  remote  administrative  offices. 

5.  The  understanding  was  definite  to  the  effect  that  each  individ- 
ual should  confine  his  energies  strictly  to  his  own  subject. 

6.  Weekly  conferences  were  held  between  the  Dean  and  Director 
and  the  heads  of  departments,  and  department  conferences  are  held 
at  stated  times,  in  most  cases  weekly. 

7.  Work  within  the  departments  is  divided  between  individuals 
who,  being  younger  than  heads  of  departments,  are  supposed  to  be 
working  under  direction,  certainly  under  advice,  but  they  are  given  to 
understand  that  each  has  his  subject  and  will  be  held  accountable  for 
results. 

8.  Every  prospective  employee,  recommended  to  the  President, 
is  first  nominated  by  the  head  of  the  department.  If  rejected,  he 
would  nominate  another.  If  it  is  the  head  of  a  department  who  is 
recommended,  the  nomination  is  made  by  the  Dean  and  Director  upon 
the  united  approval  of  the  other  heads  of  departments  in  conference. 
The  initiative  in  the  personnel,  therefore,  is  with  the  body  that  is  to 
live  and  work  together,  and  not  with  a  remote  officer  ignorant  of  all 
but  the  most  general  considerations  involved. 

9.  Every  estimate  sent  up  from  me  for  appropriations  of  funds  is 
the  result  of  conference  with  the  heads  of  departments  sitting  together. 
Lump  sums  are  thus  divided  by  the  departments  interested,  and, 
after  the  appropriation  is  made,  each  individual  knows  how  much 
money  he  may  count  upon  for  the  year,  with  which  to  discharge  his 
obligations. 

I  beg  your  pardon  for  bringing  these  details  before  you.  They  are 
the  family  affairs  of  a  little  group  of  university  people,  engaged  in  a 
most  interesting  and  pleasant  service;  interesting  because  we  believe 
it  to  be  valuable,  pleasant  because  the  people  love  each  other,  for  there 
has  never  yet  been  a  case  of  discord  or  of  heart-burning  among  us. 
We  are  all  in  the  same  boat,  to  sink  or  swim  together. 

I  know  of  no  better  way  to  bring  before  you  the  principles  that 
some  of  us  believe  in  and  the  reason  for  our  belief  than  to  do  as  I  have 
done,  hold  up  a  bit  of  real  life  organized  and  operating  on  plans  dia- 
metrically opposite    to  some  that    are   most   loudly  advocated,   and 

(108) 


109 

which  I  firmly  believe,  should  they  ever  become  really  settled  into 
iiniversitv  life,  would  either  lead  to  explosion  at  points  where  affairs 
are  hot  with  real  labor  or  they  would  settle  down  with  crushing  force, 
smothering  the  very  life  out  of  individual  enterprise  and  initiative, 
leaving  behind  lethargy  and  time  serving,  ragged  remnants  of  effic- 
iency, responding  only  to  the  prod  of  administrative  direction. 

Our  heads  of  departments,  and  their  assistants  as  well,  have  had 
everv  possible  opportunity  for  work.  Every  man  knows  exactlv  his 
responsibilities.  He  knows  in  advance  how  much  money  he  can  have 
for  the  year  with  which  to  discharge  his  obligations.  He  knows  too 
that  it  was  all  divided  for  he  helped  to  make  the  division  and  therefore 
he  thoroughly  imderstands  the  basis  on  which  it  was  made.  In  ex- 
penditures his  hand  is  free,  and  his  judgment,  after  conference,  is  final; 
because  there  is  no  better  information  than  his  to  be  had. 

"We  have  enjoyed  another  signal  advantage  outside  of  our  own 
numbers.  The  trustees  have  for  years  maintained  a  committee  on  agri- 
culture, and  to  this  avenue  of  reliable  and  full  information  I  attribute 
much  of  their  willingness  to  take  action  favorable  to  efficient  service. 
This  advantage  I  believe  to  be  vital  to  the  best  service,  and  I  am  con- 
vinced that  it  should  be  enjoyed  by  every  large  university  interest. 
If  trustees  have  no  other  source  of  information  than  the  reports  of  the 
president  and  of  the  deans  and  directors,  they  can  scarcely  have  that 
complete  knowledge  of  aft'airs  and  policies  necessary  to  intelligent 
action.  To  act  without  this  knowledge  is  almost  certain  to  lead  to 
decisions  inconsistent  one  wath  another,  and  so  it  will  always  be  true 
that  the  most  useful  committees  of  boards  of  trustees  will  be  those 
feeling  responsible  for  certain  interests ;  and  so  it  will  alwavs  be  true 
that  interests  so  represented  will  be  assured  the  most  intelligent 
action,  and  commonly  interests  not  so  represented  will  be  unfairly 
treated,  if  only  by  neglect. 

No  other  single  feature  of  university  organization  is  of  such  supreme 
importance  to  good  work,  and  if  the  individuals  involved  have  no 
better  sense  of  propriety  than  to  use  it  to  the  hurt  of  other  interests  or 
the  confusion  of  the  president,  then  it  is  a  very  good  time  to  revise  the 
list  of  employees  in  that  branch  of  the-  service. 

Well-defined  responsibilities,  freedom  of  action,  knowledge  of  financial 
resources,  abundant  conferences ,  not  too  much  administrative  direction, 
an  open  avenue  for  information  to  the  trustees,  mutual  helpfulness;  these 
are  the  fundamental  requisites  for  efficient  university  service. 

This  paper  would  not  only  be  incomplete  but  subject  to  dangerous 
misconstruction  w'ithout  a  word  regarding  the  presidency,  although 
it  is  a  subject  I  am  not  discussing.  I  know  the  question  that  will  first 
be  raised;  viz.,  "If  every  department  is  to  largely  manage  its  own 
affairs,  and  if  each  individual  is  to  discharge  his  obligations  with  some 


(109) 


no 

freedom  from  direction  with  power  of  initiative,  then  where  is  the 
authority  of  the  president,  and  what  is  the  occasion  of  his  ofifice?" 

My  first  answer  to  the  question  is  that  the  exercise  of  authority  is 
the  least  of  the  functions  of  a  president  in  such  an  institution  as  a  state 
university.  The  objects  to  be  gained  are  not  mass  effects  to  be 
achieved  by  onslaught  and  team  work  as  on  the  battle  ground  and  the 
foot  ball  field.  They  are  rather  a  complicated  series  of  achievements 
to  be  won,  each  by  individual  effort  or  by  well  considered  cooperation. 
There  is  very  little  room  for,  or  need  of,  authority  in  the  daily  opera- 
tions of  the  university.  And  if  the  state  universities  ever  assume  the 
proportions  of  which  they  are  capable,  or  if  they  ever  succeed  in  serv- 
ing the  public  to  their  limits  it  will  be  only  through  the  power  of  indi- 
vidual initiative  and  the  stimulus  of  individual  responsibility,  acting 
in  many  lines.  The  application  of  the  administrative  whip,  or  even 
the  too  frequent  reminder  of  its  existence,  will  not  contribute  to  the 
efficiency  of  the  best  men;  nor  is  it  necessary,  as  I  have  heard  advo- 
cated, to  remind  a  man  of  this  kind  at  frequent  intervals  that  he  is 
smaller  in  caliber  than  he  has  all  along  imagined.  In  all  probability 
if  he  is  very  busy  and  is  really  accomplishing  large  things,  he  has  not 
thought  very  much  about  himself.  He  is  lost  in  his  service,  but  it  is 
nevertheless  true  that  if  he  is  awakened  occasionallv  with  a  dash  of 
cold  water  of  this  kind  in  the  face,  he  is  likely  not  to  develop  that 
spirit  of  loyalty  that  if  nourished,  ripens  into  a  faithlufness  of  service 
not  far  removed  from  the  spirit  that  suffers  even  martyrdom  gladly. 

Nor  is  this  fatal  to  good  organization  or  strong,  even  invincible, 
administration.  Every  man  holds  his  place  bv  sufferance;  every  man 
is  responsible  for  results,  and,  aside  from  all  this,  a  good  and  wise 
president  will  command  leadership  by  the  principle  of  the  universal 
recognition  of  a  superior  mind  without  demanding  it  through  the 
exercise  of  authority. 

My  second  answer  is  that  in  the  system  described,  the  plans,  the 
estimates  and  the  lists  of  employees  nominated,  all  pass  under  both 
the  director's  and  the  president's  hands  before  consideration  for  final 
action.  This  is  the  administrative  opportunity.  Here  is  where  the  pres- 
ident can  put  his  finger  on  the  very  pulse  of  the  situation.  Here  is  the 
place  and  this  is  the  time  for  discussion,  for  influence  and  for  authority, 
if  you  please,  and  plenty  of  it. 

Somebody  has  said,  "  If  you  will  let  me  write  the  songs  of  the  people 
I  care  not  who  makes  the  laws,  "  and  I  will  say,  "  He  who  puts  his  hand 
upon  the  estimates  and  the  personnel  and  the  general  policies  will 
control  the  situation,  so  far  as  authority  can  control  it  for  good." 
That  men  shall  be  elected  to  university  positions  only  upon  the  presi- 
dent's recommendation;  this  is  the  president's  high  prerogative.  It 
is  one  of  his  natural  and  inalienable  rights  arising  out  of  the  nature  of 
his  responsibilities,  and  if  this  is  assured,  the  presidency  is  safe.     This 

(110) 


Ill 

is  his  peculiar  source  of  power,  and  it  is  no  restriction  that  his  recom- 
mendations should  arise  out  of  nominations  presented  by  the  depart- 
ments in  which  the  candidate  is  to  serve,  insuring  at  the  outset  the 
judgment  of  his  peers  and  an  expression  of  confidence  on  the  part  of 
those  with  whom  he  is  to  serve. 

Mv  next  answer  is  that  the  department  details  are  both  logically 
and  phvsically  outside  the  president's  range  of  duties  or  responsibil- 
ities. The  disposition  to  regard  him  as  personally  and  officially  re- 
sponsible for  department  details  is  as  cruel  to  him  as  it  is  detrimental 
to  the  work.  It  can  accomplish  nothing  useful.  It  is  setting  our  best 
man  to  picking  chips  around  the  department  workshops,  which  not 
onlv  interferes  with  the  workmen,  but  consumes  the  time  and  dissipates 
the  energies  that  ought  to  be  devoted  to  larger  purposes. 

Nor  should  these  details  be  thrust  upon  him.  I  have  seen  taken 
to  the  president's  office,  over  and  over  again,  matters  of  such  common 
routine  and  trivial  detail  that, ^should  I  permit  those  of  equal  conse- 
quence to  come  to  the  office  of  the  director,  I  should  be  worn  to  the 
marrow,  and  if  I  should  require  them  I  should  do  infinite  damage  by 
blundering  decisions  rendered  on  partial  knowledge  of  the  facts. 

I  plead  for  a  decent  amount  of  leisure  on  the  part  of  the  president 
that  he  may  work  out  presidents'  problems.  What  are  they?  That 
is  not  my  theme,  but  in  order  to  protect  my  position  here  I  will  indi- 
cate some  of  them.  The  representation  of  the  university  before  the 
public  through  addresses,  and  through  the  wider  fields  of  activity  that 
only  the  president  can  occupy.  New  lines  of  work,  broader  policies, 
a  larger  public  service,  and  the  thousand  and  one  new  things  that  do 
not  occur  to  the  men  I  have  been  talking  about,  and  could  not  be  per- 
formed by  them  if  they  did. 

Shall  I  mention  a  specific  case?  President  James  has  suggested, 
and  the  suggestion  is  receiving  the  most  careful  consideration,  that 
the  vaiious  religious  denominations  shall  establish  colleges  or  at  least 
centers  of  religious  influence  adjacent  to  the  campus  of  the  University. 
This  is  presidents'  work.  Who  else  would  have  thought  of  it  ?  Would 
it  have  occurred  first  to  the  agricultural  or  the  engineering  experiment 
station?  and  when  would  it  have  occurred?  and  what  could  they  do 
towards  its  fruition  ?  Absolutely  nothing.  But  what  cannot  a  single 
man  in  the  right  place  do  at  certain  junctures  if  he  is  big  enough  to 
know  when  the  psychological  moment  has  arrived?  and  if  he  is  there 
clear-headed  when  it  arrives  haply  he  shall  not  be  engrossed  in  "pick- 
ing up  chips,"  busy  about  many  matters  here  and  there  when  the 
opportune  moment  comes  his  way,  lest  it  pass  by. 

I  place  a  plea  for  presidential  leisure  and  a  protest  against  a  system 
that  ties  a  president  down  to  the  business  of  daily  directions.  A  well 
ordered  university  needs  a  president  for  other  purposes  than  the 
details  of  daily  operation. 

(Ill) 


112 

The  service  of  the  departments  is  outward  to  the  people.  There  is 
a  larger  service  outward,  as  I  have  indicated,  that  can  be  rendered  only 
by  the  president  acting  for  the  university  as  a  whole.  Besides  this 
there  is  a  service  that  is  inward  to  the  university  that  no  department, 
no  college,  and  no  officer  but  the  president  can  render.  It  is  impera- 
tive that  some  great  mind  be  free  to  work  out  from  time  to  time  new 
conceptions  for  the  upbuilding  of  the  university  as  conditions  change, 
and  that  these  energies  be  not  wasted  by  the  daily  drain  of  distracting 
detail.  The  present  mania  for  doing  everything  by  administrative 
control  is  expressing  itself  alike  in  government  and  in  university 
affairs.  The  inevitable  results  are  to  destroy  individual  initiative,  to 
hamper  the  work,  and  in  the  end  to  break  down  even  the  administra- 
tion itself  and  destroy  it  for  its  better  purposes. 

If  I  have  made  the  point  clear,  a  university  is  one  of  the  few  things 
that  is  larger  than  the  sum  of  all  its  parts — that  nobody  desires  to 
relegate  the  functions  of  the  president  ^to  the  departments ;  neither  to 
weaken  or  destroy  his  position,  which  would  destroy  the  organization, 
but  that  the  purpose  is  to  define  it  in  justice  to  others  and  to  itself, 
then  I  am  satisfied,  and  will  pass  to  other  matters. 

This  discussion  concerning  the  rights  of  the  individual,  of  every 
individual  in  university  service,  especially  heads  of  departments, 
should  proceed  and  will  proceed  until  it  is  determined  whether  men 
of  capacity  and  power;  or  men  of  mediocrity  and  timidity  shall  fill 
university  positions.  And  while  the  discussion  proceeds  let  me  re- 
mind you  that  it  is  a  matter  neither  for  levity  nor  for  ridicule.  It 
seems  quite  the  fashion  now  to  speak  slightingly  of  the  faculty.  It 
has  been  done  in  this  conference.  Surely  men  carrying  responsibilities 
such  as  I  have  mentioned  are  worthy  of  respectful  treatment;  worthy 
to  be  taken  seriously,  and  accorded  an  honorable  place  among  men. 
Therefore,  I  say  of  the  man  who  caricatures  the  teacher  and  the  in- 
vestigator and  who  so  exhibits  him  that  the  public  may  laugh  at  him, 
— let  him  rest  assured  that  he  has  amused  himself  and  others  at  the 
expense  of  a  class,  many  of  whom  will  be  remembered  and  honored 
in  the  world  after  most  men  have  been  long  forgotten.  The  men  of 
former  times  whom  we  now  remember  are  those  who  wrought  for  the 
love  of  it  before  "strong  administration"  were  ever  heard  of. 

University  organization  is  not  to  be  likened  to  the  national  govern- 
ment, whose  only  purpose  is  to  govern  people.  Something  else  must 
be  assured  in  university  life  beyond  good  order  in  the  faculty.  The 
quietest  man  and  the  easiest  one  to  manage  is  a  dead  one,  but  he  has 
passed  the  period  of  usefulness. 

I  have  been  told  that  these  ideas  are  visionary;  that,  for  example, 
men  will  not  divide  money  without  quarreling.  This  is  a  libel  on  the 
intelligence,  the  character  and  good  sense  of  responsible  university 
men.     We  of  the  Agricultural  Experiment  Station  are  no  better  than 

(112) 


113 

others,  but  our  conditions  have  forced  us  out  of  narrow  into  wider 
conceptions  of  men,  and  of  university  affairs.  And  I  thank  God  daily 
that  it  is  so.  Every  man  who  labors  early  and  late  in  the  discharge  of 
difficult  duty,  and  wlio  thereby  wins  a  place  high  in  the  esteem  of 
leading  men  outside  ought  to  be  able  to  hold  up  his  head  and  say  with 
reference,  even  to  university  affairs,  "I  also  am  a  man."  Who  can 
measure  the  stimulus  of  that  feeling  in  the  very  marrow  of  the  bones  ? 
And  who  can  assess  the  deadening  damage  to  his  soul  when  a  man  is 
told  in  effect  that  his  fancy  is  a  faction;  that  he  is  mere  material, 
attached  to  an  adjustable  tether,  a  child  in  leading  strings,  given  rope 
occasionally  with  which  to  amuse  himself — and  others — when  it  is  not 
likely  to  do  damage,  pulled  in  when  its  antics  no  longer  amuse,  or  if 
they  threaten  to  become  serious. 

When  a  man  of  the  rank  and  consequence  of  a  head  of  a  depart- 
ment approaches  the  office  of  his  administrative  superior  in  fear  or  in 
trepidation  instead  of  anticipated  pleasure  at  the  prospect  of  an  in 
teresting  conference^ — I  say  when  this  thing  is  so,  then  something  is 
wrong  at  the  upper  office,  and  something  else  is  awfully  wrong  that 
makes  such  conditions  possible.  Yet  so  far  as  I  am  advised  this  is 
the  inevitable  consequences  of  the  so-called  "strong  administration," 
except  with  the  few  individuals  so  conditioned  as  to  be  able  to  protect 
themselves  or  their  interests,  and  except  for  the  few  who  are  admin- 
istrative favorites.  I  ought  not  to  tell  tales  out  of  school  in  this  assem- 
blage, yet  the  fact  is  notorious  that  no  man  is  so  exposed  to  flattery, 
no  man  so  frequently  cajoled  by  small  souls,  no  man  so  thoroughly 
easy  to  "work"  as  the  autocrat  at  the  head  of  what  he  is  pleased  to 
believe  a  strong  administration.  Of  absolute  loyalty  he  knows  next 
to  nothing.  The  only  logical  autocrat  in  university  affairs  is  the  head 
of  a  department.  With  him,  assistants  being  comparatively  young 
men  must  often  be  directed;  though  here  as  elsewhere,  influence, 
conference,  and  tradition  are  infinitely  more  powerful  than  authority. 

Some  one  will  say,  "If  no  body  issues  directions,  how  shall  stand- 
ards be  set  and  how  will  laws  be  established?"  On  this  point  let  us 
remember  that  standards  which  live  long  are  not  born  suddenly  by 
edict;  they  develop  out  of  exigencies  and  experience,  and  after  a  while 
they  become  traditional  and  then  they  are  stronger  than  either  law  or 
edict.  The  advocates  of  doing  things  by  administration  do  not  seem 
to  have  remembered  that  influence,  tradition,  and  the  spirit  of  loyalty 
are  infinitely  stronger  than  authority.  They  seem  not  to  realize  that 
there  is  a  form  of  organization  with  all  the  appearance  of  strength,  but 
which  breeds  only  weakness;  strong  and  very  busy  at  the  center,  but 
weak,  even  dead,  at  the  circumference — out  at  the  working  points 
where  it  ought  to  be  most  alive. 

The  strongest  organization  is  the  one  that  is  not. always  on  dress 
parade,  and  does  not  always  remind  us  that  the  big  stick  is  close  at 

(113) 


114 

hand.  There  is  an  organization  that  is  scarcely  evident  except  when 
occasion  arises.  Then  it  will  be  found  very  much  alive  indeed,  being 
based  upon  the  department  as  the  unit  of  work  and  the  logical  unit  of 
organization,  with  natural  gradations  both  in  responsibility  and  in 
authority  up  to  the  very  head — the  dean,  the  director  or  the  president, 
as  the  case  may  be.  Such  an  organization  possesses  an  inherent  power, 
unmeasured  and  unmeasurable.  It  wih  leap  into  instant  service 
almost  of  itself  and  will  not  break  in  two  at  any  point,  however  severe 
the  strain.  The  power  of  such  an  organization  is  in  its  traditions, 
and  the  loyalty  of  its  members,  not  in  the  authority  of  its  head;  nor 
does  it  depend  altogether  upon  the  personality  of  its  members,  for 
once  started  it  seems  to  be  endowed  with  the  genius  of  immortality. 

While  many  good  men  have  been  spoiled  and  their  work  ruined 
by  too  much  direction,  there  is  no  case  on  record  of  securing  the 
service  of  a  genius  out  of  a  stick  by  the  injection  of  any  sort  of  admin- 
istrative virus. 

Men  grow  and  develop  under  responsibility,  and  they  are  at  their 
best  under  a  feeling  that  a  great  public  trust  devolves  upon  them.  I 
know  the  objections  that  are  raised  to  this  proposition.  It  is  said 
that  men  of  technical  training  are  experts,  and  that  experts  are  not  to 
be  trusted  with  important  affairs.  My  first  answer  is  that  there  are 
experts  and  experts;  that  some  of  them  are  still  men,  and  not  devoid 
of  all  sense  of  proportions.  My  second  answer  is  that  any  man  is  a 
better  man  when  feeling  a  personal  sense  of  responsibility.  If  there  is 
anything  in  a  man  this  course  will  bring  it  out.  Therefore  give  him 
every  opportunity  with  a  free  hand  and  in  good  time  he  will  demon- 
strate either  his  worth  or  his  worthlessness. 

If  a  man  be  treated  as  a  child  he  will  either  resent  it  or  leave ;  or, 
remaining  for  the  sake  of  bread  for  his  little  ones,  he  will  grow  small  of 
mind  and  listless  of  effort, — an  automaton  if  not  a  marionette  animated 
only  by  transmitted  power.  I  have  known  some  of  these  child  men; 
they  are  pitifully  worthless  for  experiment  station  purposes, — like 
Jacob  Riis's  "perfectly  good  cat " —  spoiled.  Administration  we  must 
have,  but  let  administration  take  its  proportional  place  in  university 
affairs.  Let  us  have  as  few  orders,  as  little  red  tape,  as  few  card 
catalogs,  and  numbered  blanks  and  report  slips  as  possible.  There- 
fore let  us  not  fall  in  love  with  the  system  and  forget  or  prevent  what 
it  is  to  accomplish,  and  let  us  remember  after  all  that  an  institution  is 
small  or  great  according  to  the  characters  that  compose  its  faculty, 
which  is  the  most  stable  element  of  its  personnel,  and  without  whose 
loyal  and  intelligent  and  technical  service  no  institution  and  no  ad- 
ministration can  succeed. 

When  the  university  worker  puts  on  his  administrative  uniform, 
let  him  wear  it  lightly,  remembering  that  he  is  to  furnish  oil,  not  vine- 
gar for  the  machinery;  that  while  he  must  replace  worn  and  broken 

(114) 


115 

parts,  yet  above  all  he  must  keep  sticks  out  of  the  gearing.  I  have 
sometimes  heard  administrative  officers  say  that  their  principal  time 
was  given  to  preventing  things  from  being  done.  Could  there  be 
t)etter  evidence  of  the  cumulative  effect  of  too  much  administration? 

Either  plan  can  be  made  to  work.  The  primary  question  is  what 
kind  of  men  will  be  found  occupying  the  positions  after  the  system  has 
been  fully  established. 

There  is  a  service  of  the  heart,  born  of  lo}-alty  and  tradition  that 
will  serve  a  cause  or  an  individual  even  unto  death.  It  is  born  not  of 
authority,  which  is  never  able  to  command  even  a  tithe  of  service 
available;  it  is  born  of  loyalty,  of  that  spirit  of  doing  and  serving  that 
cannot  be  bought  with  money,  that  cannot  be  demanded  by  authority, 
that  cannot  live  under  oppression  or  scorn.  We  must  have  this  ser- 
vice if  our  universities  are  to  realize  the  possibilities  they  may  attain, 
or  render  to  the  public  the  service  easily  within  their  capacity.  We 
can  have  this  service  in  universities  if  we  do  not  drive  away  by  childish 
or  cruel  treatment  those  who  alone  are  capable  of  rendering  it.  If  we 
do  drive  them  away  then  God  pity  the  state  university. 


DISCUSSION 

Dean  David  Kinley 
University  of  Illinois 

I  wish  to  express  my  hearty  approval  of  the  paper  that  has  just 
been  read.  I  judge  from  the  remarks  of  the  chairman  that,  after  all, 
the  advocates  of  the  decentralized  and  centralized  systems  of  admin- 
istration are  not  far  apart  in  purpose,  at  least.  In  order  to  bring  out 
my  own  thought,  I  would  put  side  by  side  a  emark  made  to  me  not 
long  since  by  President  James  and  a  remark  once  made  by  the  present 
Commissioner  of  Education  of  the  State  of  New  York.  President 
James  said,  "Do  not  do  anything  which  you  can  get  anybody  else  to 
do."  That,  I  take  it,  Mr.  Chairman,  is  a  sound  principle  of  adminis- 
tration. Put  in  other  words,  it  means  that  every  administrative  act 
should  be  settled  at  the  lowest  round  in  the  scale  of  adininistrative 
authority  where  it  can  be  successfully  handled. 

The  remark  of  Dr.  Draper  was  to  the  effect  that  policy  is  deter- 
mined by  large  bodies,  but  put  into  effect  by  one  or  a  few.  This  also  is 
a  sound  principle  of  administration.  But  in  putting  the  policies  into 
effect  I  would  distinguish  between  what  may  be  called  concentered 
administration  and  centralized  administration.  In  the  former  sys- 
tem, every  administrative  act,  however  unimportant,  goes  back  for 
its  authority  to  the  one  central  officer.  In  the  centralized  adminis- 
tration there  is  a  cordon  of  authority  delegated  through  various  steps 
or  scales.  Under  the  former  system,  one  could  not  move  a  piano 
without  the  president's  consent;  under  the  latter  system  the  piano 

(115) 


116 

could  be  moved  by  the  man  who  is  in  charge  of  pianos, —  in  other 
words,  as  I  said  before,  at  the  lowest  round  of  the  administrative 
authority  where  the  matter  can  be  correctly  handled. 


REVIEW  OF  THE  CONFERENCE 

Hon.  S.  a.  Bullard 
President  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  University  of  Illinois 

It  was  the  purpose  of  the  committee  that  President  James  should, 
at  the  close  of  this  conference,  present  a  review  of  the  work  which  the 
conference  had  done.  We  regret  the  inability  of  the  President  to  be 
with  us  tonight  and  to  perform  that  duty.  He  would  be  here  were  he 
physically  able  to  come.  However,  it  seems  fitting  that  some  words 
be  said  concerning  the  work  of  the  conference,  and  I  shall  take  the 
occasion  to  state  a  few  things  which  I  have  had  impressed  upon  me. 

The  discussions  have  covered  a  wide  range  of  subjects,  but  they 
have  concerned  four  classes  of  people;  namely,  trustees,  presidents, 
members  of  the  teaching  force,  and  students.  The  students  have 
received  the  least  attention.  I  regret  that  they  have  not  received 
more.  They  form  the  least  permanent  body  connected  with  an  insti- 
tution of  learning,  and  yet  the  institution  was  formed  and  is  operated 
for  their  special  aid  and  benefit,  together  with  the  benefits  which  may 
accidently  go  to  those  men  with  whom  they  are  associated  in  this 
community.  Just  what  the  student  can  do  for  the  good  government 
and  well  being  of  our  colleges  was  not  fully  brought  out  in  the  papers 
and  discussions.  It  is  possible  that  our  presidents  and  those  having 
the  responsibilities  of  administration  may  do  well  to  see  what  aid 
students  can  give  in  making  the  administration  strong  and  successful. 

The  functions  of  the  president  and  the  power  of  the  executive 
office  has  been  carefully  and  forcibly  presented.  In  contrast  with 
this  position,  we  have  had  the  position  of  the  member  of  the  faculty, 
whether  instructor  or  head  of  department,  presented  in  a  logical  and 
candid  way.  We  have  seen  that  there  must  be  an  executive  head  to 
the  institution,  and  yet  there  are  responsibilities  which  may  be  dele- 
gated to  the  faculty,  which  the  president  should  not  assume  nor  invade. 
And  further,  we  have  heard  of  the  duties  of  the  board  of  trustees  as 
the  legislative  body  of  the  institution;  that  with  the  board  largely 
rests  the  responsibility  of  government,  because  the  board  must  choose 
the  head,  establish  the  ordinances  under  which  the  administration 
shall  operate,  and  act  as  the  court  of  last  resort. 

Amid  all  this  conflict  of  opinion  as  to  the  best  place  to  locate  the 
chief  authority  for  the  best  interests  of  all  concerned,  we  may  be  able 
to  draw  a  lesson  or  two.  Let  us  draw  this  one:  In  any  institution  of 
learning  there  is  no  person  who  may  rightfully  claim  to  be  the  institu- 
tion itself.     This  is  an  age  of  individuality.     We  have  heard  a  great 

(116) 


117 

deal  lately  that  every  man  should  have  "a  square  deal."  That  may 
be  a  term  from  the  card  room,  but  it  has  now  become  good  English,  and 
I  shall  use  it.  The  trustee,  the  president,  the  member  of  the  faculty, 
and  the  student,  each  wants  a  square  deal,  and  each  should  have  it. 
Each  should  have  the  opportunity  to  do  his  best  in  the  work  he  is 
doing.  He  should  ask  nothing  less,  he  should  be  allowed  nothing 
more.  The  president  cannot  afford  to  believe  that  it  is  his  right  to 
use  the  college  to  make  his  name  famous  and  renowned.  No  pro- 
fessor, without  lowering  his  dignity  as  a  man  and  a  teacher,  may  pre- 
sume that  the  college  may  be  used  to  make  himself  noted,  or  to  advance 
his  personal  interests.  There  must  be  harmony  of  purpose  and  fra- 
ternity of  action  by  all  the  persons  joined  in  the  work  of  the  college,  in 
order  that  the  college  may  do  its  best.  That  president  is  the  best 
president  who  can  cordially  accord  to  every  member  of  his  facult}^  the 
opportunitv  to  bring  out  the  best  in  himself.  He  does  more  for  his 
institution  and  his  students,  reflects  more  honor  upon  his  board,  and 
gathers  more  lustre  for  his  name,  if  he  can  draw  out  of  each  teacher, 
and  through  them  draw  out  of  each  student,  the  best  his  nature  will 
produce.  Such  a  president  is  a  great  president;  such  a  faculty  is  a 
great  faculty;  and  such  an  institution  is  a  great  institution.  You 
cannot  hide  its  light  under  a  bushel. 

Another  lesson:  No  institution  of  learning  can  best  accomplish  its 
great  work — that  which  was  prepared  by  its  founders  and  is  expected 
by  its  patrons — unless  every  person  connected  therewith  is  in  accord 
with  all  other  persons  who  perform  parts  of  the  work.  Every  one 
connected  with  an  institution  of  learning  is  bound  to  give  to  it  more 
than  the  world  sees  that  he  gets  from  it.  Individual  rights  exist  in 
college  as  in  government ;  but  as  in  government  the  citizen  must  limit 
his  actions  to  the  good  of  the  whole  people,  so  in  college  the  member 
must  loyally  accord  to  all  others  every  right  he  claims  for  himself,  so 
that  the  whole  institution  may  be  made  great.  The  man  who  habit- 
ually believes  that  he  should  get  more  than  he  gives,  can  have  no  claim 
to  an  extended  existence  in  an  institution  of  learning.  Selfishness 
and  greatness  can  never  exist  in  the  life  of  a  teacher  or  student  any 
more  than  they  can  in  the  life  of  the  saint. 

These  are  some  of  the  lessons  I  feel  that  I  have  gathered  from  this 
conference.  I  hope  that  you  have  each  gathered  as  many  more.  If 
you  have  done  so,  I  have  confidence  that  the  good  derived  here  will 
encourage  the  calling  of  other  conferences  along  the  line  followed  by 
this  one. 

With  the  highest  appreciation  of  your  eft'orts  to  make  this  confer- 
ence helpful  to  all  who  have  been  present  and  with  the  expression  of  a 
hearty  welcome  to  you  to  visit  again  the  University  of  Illinois,  I  now 
pronounce  the  conference  adjourned  without  date. 


(117) 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 

INSTALLATION 

OF 

Edmund  Janes  James,  Ph.D.,  LL.D. 

AS  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 


PART  IL 


PROCEEDINGS  OF 
THE  CONFERENCE  ON   RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

October  15-19,  i9o5 


Edited  by  W.  N.  Stearns,  Ph.  D. 


Price  One  Dollar 


Urbana,  1906 


Copyright  1906 
By  The  University  of  Illinois 


Press  of  The 

Illinois  Printing  Company 

Danville,  Illinois 


PREFATORY  NOTE 

The  public  discussion  of  religious  education  in  our  higher  institu- 
tions of  learning  has  become  of  so  great  interest  that  it  seemed  worth 
while  to  call  a  conference  for  the  discussion  of  the  subject  in  connection 
with  the  installation  of  Doctor  E.  J.  James  as  President  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  Illinois,  October,  1905.  A  wide  interest  developed  in  the  plans 
and  a  number  of  distinguished  gentlemen  agreed  to  read  papers  and 
to  participate  in  the  discussions. 

In  accordance  with  the  arrangements  the  first  session  was  held  at 
nine  o'clock,  Thursday,  October  19,  1905.  Professor  Shailer  Matthews 
of  the  University  of  Chicago  presided  over  the  conference,  kindly  giv- 
ing up  an  intended  vacation  to  do  so. 

The  following  resolution,  offered  by  Professor  Kelsey  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Michigan,  was  unanimously  passed  at  the  evening  session: 

''Resolved,  that  this  conference  recommends  to  the  religious  de- 
nominations the  consideration  of  the  question  whether  the  theological 
schools  in  the  region  of  the  State  University  may  not  be  grouped  about 
the  State  University  to  mutual  advantage. 

"And  be  it  further  resolved  that  the  chairman  of  this  conference 
and  the  President  of  the  University  of  Illinois  be  requested  to  act  as  a 
committee  to  transmit  a  copy  of  this  resolution  to  the  proper  ecclesi- 
astical authorities  of  each  denomination." 

The  meetings  of  the  conference  were  held  in  the  University  Place 
Church,  and  an  expression  of  thanks  was  made  at  the  close  of  the  con- 
ference to  the  pastor  and  the  members  of  that  church  for  their  courtesv. 

At  the  evening  session  the  following  communication  was  offered 
by  the  chairman,  and  voted  by  the  conference: 

"  I  feel  that  it  would  be  very  appropriate  for  us  to  express  inform- 
ally if  we  do  not  have  opportunity  to  do  it  formally,  the  warm  appre- 
ciation of  those  who  have  come  as  guests,  of  the  perfection  of  the 
arrangements  which  have  been  made,  and  especially  of  the  hospitable 
and  cordial  spirit  with  which  a  forum  has  been  provided  for  the  dis- 
cussion of  these  fundamental  issues,  not  merely  to  the  universities 
but  to  the  public. 

Arthur  H.  Daniels,     ] 

Franklin  L.  Graff,      \-  Committee. 

Wallace  N.  Stearns,  J 

The  program  was  as  follows: 


(121) 


PROGRAM 

Professor  Shatter  Mathews,  D.D.,  of  the  University  of  Chicago,  Presiding. 

MoRiViNG  Session:     9:00  a.m.,  Thursday,  October  19. 

General  Subject;  What  Religious  Education  May  the  State  University- 
Undertake? 

Organ  Voluntary:  Frederick  Locke  Lawrence,  Director  of  the  School  of  Music, 
University  of  Illinois. 

Devotional  Exercises:  Conducted  by  Right  Reverend  Edward  William  Os- 
borne, D.D.,  Bishop  Coadjutor  of  Springfield. 

Address  of  Welcome :     Professor  Thomas  Arkle  Clark,  The  University  of  Illinois. 

Introductory  Address:     By  the  President  of  the  Conference. 

Addresses:  President  William  Oxlev  Thompson,  D.D.,  Ohio  State  Univer- 
sity; ReverendB.  Cassilly,  S.  J.,  D.D.,  Vice-president  of  St.  Ignatius 
College. 

Discussion : — 

Reverend  William  Franklin  Anderson,  D.D.,  Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Edu- 
cation, Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

The  Very  Reverend  Dean  Duffy,  Danville,  Illinois. 

President  William  Lowe  Bryan,  Ph.D.,  LL.D.,  Indiana  University. 

Reverend  Jenkin  Lloyd  Jones,  D.D.,  Pastor  of  All  Souls  Church,  Chicago, 
and  Editor  of  "Unity." 

General  Discussion: — 

Right  Reverend  Edward  William  Osborne,  D.D. 

President  Lilian  Wyckoff  Johnson,  Ph.D.,  Western  College  for  Women. 
President  Anna  Sneed  Cairns,  A.M.,  Forest  Park  University. 
Reverend  W.  J.  Bergin,  C.S.V.,  A.M.,  Pastor  St.  Viateurs  College. 
Professor  Edward  Octavius  Sisson,  Ph.D.,  The  University  of  Illinois. 

Afternoon  Session:     3:00  p.m. 
Music. 

Devotional  5Exercises. 
Address:     The  State  Universities  and  the  Churches;  Professor  Francis  Willey 

Kelsey,  Ph.D.,  University  of  Michigan. 
Address:     Obligations  of  the  Church  to  its  Adherents  in  the  State  Universities; 

President  Henry  Churchill  King,  D.D.,  Oberlin  College,  Representative  of 

the  Religious  Education  Association. 

Discussion : — 

President  James  David   Moffat,  LL.D.,  Washington  and  Jefferson  College, 

and  Moderator  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 
Professor  John  Henry  Gray,  Ph.D.,  Northwestern  University. 
Reverend  Willis  G.  Banker,  D.D.,  Presbyterian  Church,  Lawrence,  Kansas. 

Evening  Session:     8:00  p.m. 
Devotional  Exercises. 

Address:  The  Affiliated  College;  President  Webster  Merrifield,  M.A.,  Univer- 
sity of  North  Dakota. 

Discussion: — 

Dean  W.  J.  Lahamon,  A.M.,  Bible  College  of  Missouri. 

Reverend  William  S.  Marquis,  D.D.,  Representative  of  The  Illinois  Synod 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 

President  David  Ross  Boyd,  Ph.D.,  University  of  Oklahoma. 

Reverend  Francis  A.  Wilber,  D.D.,  Principal  of  Westminister  House,  L^ni- 

versity  of  Kansas. 
General  Discussion:— Professor  E.  L.  Rivard,  C.S.V.,  D.D.,  Ph.D.,  St.  Viateurs 

College. 


(122) 


ADDRESS  OF  WELCOME 

Bv  Thomas  Arkle  Clark,  B.L. 
Dean  of  Undergraduates,  University  of  Illinois 

It  is  a  matter  of  deep  regret  to  President  James  that  he  cannot  be 
here  himself  to  speak  a  word  of  welcome,  and  it  is  especially  so  because 
of  his  interest  in  the  subject  of  this  conference.  I  am  glad  for  him, 
however,  and  in  his  name,  to  welcome  you  to  the  University  of  Illinois. 

The  matter  of  religious  education  in  the  state  universities  is  a  vital 
one.  On  account  of  the  peculiar  character  of  its  work,  the  state  uni- 
versity cannot  give  the  attention  to  religious  education  that  should  be 
given.  The  burden  of  conducting  this  must  therefore  fall  upon  the 
religious  organizations  which  are  found  in  the  community  in  which 
the  university  is  located.  We  are  all  interested  in  this  work,  though 
we  may  not  give  ourselves  wholly  to  it.  I  have  no  doubt  that  statis- 
tics will  be  presented  to  you  before  the  close  of  this  conference,  which 
will  show  you  that  we  are  not  an  irreligious  community.  A  very  large 
proportion  of  the  members  of  our  faculty  are  engaged  in  active  religious 
work  in  the  churches  of  which  they  form  a  part.  The  student  com- 
munity is  a  religious  community  and  swells  the  congregations  of  all 
the  churches  that  are  located  here. 

I  well  know  that  the  reputation  of  the  university  for  interest  in 
religion  is  not  a  desirable  one,  but  my  own  experience,  both  as  a  stu- 
dent and  as  an  instructor,  does  not  warrant  such  a  reputation.  I  am 
glad  to  remember  that  when  I  came  to  the  university  as  a  student 
twenty  years  ago,  when  its  reputation  throughout  the  state  for  interest 
in  religion  was  in  no  way  to  its  credit,  the  first  organization  I  was 
asked  to  join  was  the  Christian  Association,  and  the  first  impression  I 
got  of  the  university  community  was  one  of  religious  interest. 

I  am  glad  that  this  conference  has  been  called,  because  I  believe 
that  there  is  a  responsibility  upon  the  churches  of  all  denominations 
to  look  after  their  interests  here.  The  students  are  with  us.  They 
are  vitally  interested  in  religious  subjects.  If  they  are  not  taken  care 
of,  the  church  will  lose  a  great  opportunity.  As  members  of  the 
faculty,  we  shall  be  glad  to  cooperate  in  any  enterprise  which  may 
develop  or  which  will  conduce  to  the  religious  growth  of  the  commun- 
ity. We  shall  be  interested  in  the  results  which  come  from  this 
conference,  and  in  whatever  way  we  can  help,  you  have  only  to  com- 
mand us. 

Again,  then,  in  the  name  of  the  students  and  the  faculty  and  the 
president,  I  welcome  you  heartily  to  the  University  of  Illinois. 


(123) 


INTRODUCTORY  ADDRESS 

Shailer  Mathews,  D.D. 
Professor  and  Dean  of  the  Divinity  School,  The  University  of  Chicago 

There  was  a  time  when  education  was  regarded  as  belonging  to  a 
sphere  of  Hfe  quite  distinct  from  that  of  religious  experience.  There 
was  a  time,  and  that  time  has  not  altogether  passed,  when  to  be  relig- 
ious meant  to  surrender  anything  like  intellectual  libert}'  and  intel- 
lectual power.  Not  so  long  since  the  leaders  of  education  looked  with 
considerable  contempt,  or  at  least  suspicion,  upon  religious  thinkers. 
Religion  claimed  a  certainty  where  the  scientific  mind  professed  ignor- 
ance. It  was  so  thoroughly  devoted  to  the  exploitation  of  eternity  as 
to  be  indifferent  to  the  demands  of  to-day ;  and  he  whose  passion  was 
for  reality,  and  he  who  felt  that  only  that  was  real  which  could  be 
subjected  to  certain  tests,  naturally  felt  suspicious,  if  not  hostile, 
toward  those  who  thus  refused  to  submit  to  investigation  their  most 
precious  claims,  and  who  alleged  that  a  man  could  know  only  after 
he  had  believed.  There,  accordingly,  grew  up  a  feeling  that  religion 
was  in  some  way  an  unreal  thing,  or  at  best  a  luxury  in  intellectual 
life ;  that  an  honest  man  must  in  some  way  forbear  to  be  of  very  sure 
religious  belief;  that  the  sincere  man  must  be  silent  as  to  his  faith. 
And  there  swept  over  the  educational  world  a  devotion  to  what  might 
be  called  the  gospel  of  ignorance — not  that  men  denied,  but  that  men 
did  not  affirm.  The  difference  between  that  day  and  ours  is  the  dif- 
erence  between  the  day  in  which  the  man  did  not  deny,  but  did  not 
affirm,  and  the  day,  which  I  think  is  dawning,  in  which  men  not  only 
do  not  deny  but  begin  to  dare  to  affirm. 

Now,  with  the  rise  of  this  new  confidence  in  the  things  of  faith, 
with  the  rise  of  this  new  realization  that  life  is  something  more  than 
the  mere  gaining  of  knowledge,  with  the  rise  of  this  growing  conviction 
that  a  man  ma}*  believe  in  God  and  still  be  true  to  the  workings  of 
reason,  with  this  splendid  passion  for  reality  which  we  are  beginning 
to  see  express  itself,  not  only  in  the  university,  but  also  in  the  church, 
there  has  come  a  determination  on  the  part  of  thinkers  to  link  educa- 
tion and  religion  in  some  way  together.  It  would  not  be  so  difficult, 
I  think  we  shall  all  agree,  to  combine  those  two,  if  to  be  religious  and 
if  to  teach  religion  meant  to  teach  certain  definite  dogmas  or  certain 
definite  philosophies.  There  are  those  who  could  do  that  with  sure- 
ness,  and  I  have  no  doubt  with  benefit.  But  the  university  man  is 
shy  of  dogmas,,  and  the  university  man  is  shy  of  that  sort  of  teaching 
which  would  compel  the  teacher  to  make  replicas  of  himself  and  of  his 
student.  If  I  understand  the  atmosphere  and  the  ideals  of  the  uni- 
versity, it  is  not  to  make  men  like  the  teacher,  but  to  make  men  loyal 
to  truth,  keen  and  sensitive  to  truth,  madly  determined  to  have 
reality  and  nothing  but  reality.     The  higher  the  ideal,  of  course,  the 

(124) 


larger  the  difficulty.  As  we  push  out  the  circumference  of  the  circle 
of  knowledge,  we  increase  the  outside  of  that  circle  which  touches 
ignorance.  As  the  university  plunges  into  the  depth  of  the  unknown, 
it  is  not  with  the  feeling  that  the  area  of  contact  with  the  unknown  is 
decreased,  but,  rather  increased.  But  yet  there  stands  religion.  Are 
we  to  treat  that  simply  as  mortality  tinged  with  emotion?  Are  we 
to  treat  that  simply  as  a  feeling  of  awe,  born  of  the  contemplation  of 
this  growing  area  which  we  do  not  know  or  cannot  hope  to  know? 
Or,  is  religion  that  which  is  positive,  so  truly  an  element  of  the  human 
personality  that  it  too,  like  the  mind  devoted  to  other  matters,  is 
subject  to  education?  And  if  it  be  subject  to  education,  and  if  the 
religious  Ego  may  be  developed  as  may  be  the  scientific  Ego,  then  has 
not  the  -university  some  duty  in  this  regard? 

I  count  it  an  exceedingly  happy  omen  that  the  state  university 
should  seriously  ask  advice  and  give  an  opportunity  for  conference 
upon  this  problem.  It  is  a  testimony  not  to  uncertainty  alone,  it  is  a 
testimony  to  the  growing  religious  faith  of  university  spirit.  We  are 
no  longer  confronted  with  the  great  antithesis  between  the  teacher  of 
science  (using  that  word  not  in  an  arrogant  sense,  but  in  the  largest 
possible  sense)  and  the  teacher  of  religion.  The  difficulty  is  a  practical 
one  as  I  conceive  it,  no  longer  one  of  theory.  We  all  admit  that  the 
religious  self  should  be  developed  as  every  other  sort  of  self.  But 
how?  How  in  the  state  university,  particularly,  in  which  the  peculiar 
political  complications  are  as  they  are?  How  in  the  state  university, 
in  which  the  prevailing  note  is  rapidly  becoming  that  of  the  practical 
man  rather  than  of  that  of  the  professional  man,  of  the  engineer  rather 
than  of  the  doctor  or  lawyer,  of  the  business  man  rather  than  of  the 
teacher?  How  shall  these  problems  be  settled?  If  we  can  settle 
these  questions  in  any  sort  of  way  in  the  state  tmiversity,  we  shall  have 
settled  them  for  good  in  any  other  sort  of  institution,  for  here  the 
problem  is  in  its  most  distinct,  and  I  am  inclined  to  think,  its  most 
important  form.  How  to  bring  the  state  into  the  young  men  and 
young  women  and  make  them  citizens,  that  is  one  of  the  great  prob- 
lems in  which  the  state  tmiversity  is  interested.  How  to  bring  the 
God-like  nature  of  the  young  man  and  young  woman  into  expression 
and  to  direct  that  expression  into  something  other  than  a  mere  pro- 
fession, that  also  is  a  legitimate  field  of  education,  and  that  must  be 
answered  in  the  state  university,  if  it  is  ever  answered  to  the  satis- 
faction of  this  country.  The  denominational  colleges  will  always 
bring  their  religious  infiiaence  to  bear  in  some  sort  of  way  upon  their 
students,  but  the  state  university  works  without  any  influence  of  that 
sort.  Yet  it,  too,  is  subject  to  the  same  law.  If  education  be  not  in 
some  way  religious,  then  so  much  the  worse  for  the  society  in  which 
we  live,  and  I  believe  most  thoroughly,  so  much  the  worse  for  the 
state  university.     This  conference,  as  I  understand  it,  is  a  conference 

(125) 


8 

in  the  truest  sense  of  the  word.  I  understand  that  the  problem  has 
been  suggested  to  the  various  speakers  as  not  a  matter  of  mere  debate. 
I  am  sure  that  no  man  of  us  here,  with  his  pressure  of  ordinary  duties, 
would  pause  to  take  a  day  therefrom  for  the  mere  luxury  of  an  aca- 
demic debate.  It  is  because  we  believe  that  there  is  real  need  for  this 
conference  that  we  are  here.  And  in  all  seriousness  and  earnestness, 
with  the  determination,  I  am  sure,  that  from  out  of  this  conference 
there  shall  come  some  sort  of  practical  suggestion  to  the  state  uni- 
versities, first  of  all,  and  to  other  universities  as  well,  we  are  gathered 
here  to  listen  to  one  another  and  to  join  with  each  other  in  the  expo- 
sition of  what  we  think  to  be  practical  wisdom. 


WHAT  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  MAY  THE  STATE  UNIVER- 
SITY PROPERLY  UNDERTAKE? 

William  Oxley  Thompson,  D.D. 
President,  Ohio  State  University,  Columbus,  Ohio 

The  question  upon  which  I  have  been  asked  to  present  this  paper 
opens  a  difficult  but  fruitful  topic  for  discussion. 

The  American  people  by  conviction  are  thoroughly  religious  and 
believe  in  religion  as  vitally  concerned  in  the  development  of  all  true 
education.  The  fact  that  the  church  was  the  pioneer  in  higher  educa- 
tion, together  with  the  fact  that  religion  and  education  have  always 
been  united  in  their  interests,  has  given  emphasis  to  the  importance 
of  religion  in  education.  When,  however,  the  common  school  interest 
grew  up,  there  was  a  disinclination  to  insist  upon  the  presence  of  relig- 
ious exercises  in  the  school  on  the  ground  of  alleged  interference  with 
the  rights  of  conscience.  Associated  with  this  was  the  political  theory, 
as  commonly  existed  in  this  country,  that  the  state  and  church  should 
be  separate.  This  doctrine  of  separation  of  the  church  and  state  is 
even  more  strongly  intrenched  in  popular  belief.  Under  the  influence 
of  such  a  theory,  professedly  Christian  people  felt  that  it  was  an  un- 
christian attitude  for  them  to  insist  upon  conformity  on  the  part  of  those 
who  were  non-christian.  The  very  principles  which  they  espoused,  pro- 
hibited them  from  forcing  these  principles  upon  others.  The  consti- 
tutional doctrine  on  this  subject  of  education,  in  the  first  amendment 
to  the  constitution  of  the  United  States,  declares  that  "Congress  shall 
make  no  law  respecting  an  establishment  of  religion,  or  prohibiting 
the  free  exercise  thereof. ' '  This  amendment  virtually  turns  the 
whole  matter  to  the  separate  states  with  the  assurance  that  Congress 
will  not  legislate  upon  the  subject.  This  provides  for  the  free  exer- 
cise of  religion  and  guarantees  that  it  shall  not  be  established  by  the 
government.  The  state  constitutions  have  followed  this  general 
principle  with  somewhat  more  extended  statements  as  to  the  rights  of 

(126) 


conscience  and  with  certain  protection  so  far  as  the  support  of  religion 
by  taxation  is  concerned. 

In  the  earher  years,  no  distinction  was  made  in  legislation  between 
the  church  and  religion.  Christianity  has  sometimes  been  declared 
to  be  a  part  of  the  common  law  of  England  and  America,  but  the  con- 
fusion that  arises  from  identifying  religion  with  the  church  still  con- 
tinues in  the  minds  of  many.  The  fact  that  religion  was  presumably 
the  chief  concern  of  many,  whatever  the  different  religious  bodies, 
and  the  fact  that  the  Bible  was  the  book  from  which  all  these  bodies 
took  authority,  lead  many  to  assume  that  controversy  was  necessary 
and  agreement  impossible.  In  line  with  this  belief,  a  court  decision, 
"That  the  Bible  was  a  sectarian  book,"  was  developed  and  the  con- 
clusion reached  that  it  could  not  be  constitutionally  or  legallv  used  in 
schools  supported  by  taxation. 

Recent  tendencies  have  revealed  a  new  phase  of  this  problem.  A 
new,  or  at  least  an  enlarged,  view  of  the  state  has  been  developed. 
We  are  agreed  to  the  theory  that  the  state  is  something  more  than  a 
policeman  with  a  large  club ;  we  are  proceeding  upon  the  theory  that 
it  is  the  duty  of  the  state  to  engage  in  philanthropic  and  benevolent 
work  and  that  the  church  is  not  the  only  agency  interested  in  religion. 
Indeed  the  people  have  come  to  demand  that  the  state  engage  in  what 
may  be  termed  developmental  agencies  that  are  quite  beyond  any  of 
the  older  theories.  This  is  the  most  fundamental  and  important  argu- 
ment for  state  education.  This  broader  view  of  the  state  reveals  the 
fact  that  religion  is  a  subject  of  common  interest.  The  famous  phase 
in  the  ordinance  of  1787,  namely,  "religion,  morality  and  knowledge, 
being  necessary  to  good  government  and  the  happiness  of  mankind, 
schools  and  the  means  of  education  shall  forever  be  encouraged,"  has 
received  a  new  emphasis  and  the  popular  judgment  has  gained  cre- 
dence that  religion  is  fundamental  to  good  government.  If  education 
is,  therefore,  to  prepare  men  not  only  to  live  under  good  government 
but  to  maintain  it,  the  argument  for  the  maintenance  of  religion  would 
seem  to  have  the  best  of  support.  Attention  has  been  called  in  im- 
portant legal  decisions  to  the  fact  that  the  ordinance  itself  is  clear  on 
this  matter.  This  decision  emphasized  the  position  by  suggesting 
that  it  was  not  at  all  true  that  good  government  was  necessary  to 
religion,  but  that  the  dependence  was,  as  stated  in  the  article,  and  that 
religion  was  necessary  to  good  government.  It  seems  clear,  therefore, 
that  the  state  will  never  support  the  institutions  of  religion  such  as 
the  church.  On  the  other  hand  it  seems  equally  clear  that  the  abid- 
ing interest  of  the  state  in  religion  will  be  more  and  more  manifest. 
Whether  the  state  will  manifest  this  interest  by  encouraging  the  sup- 
port of  religious  education  is  the  theme  under  consideration. 

In  order  that  we  may  discuss  this  subject  candidly,  I  propose  to 
review  some  of  the  court  decisions  upon  the  general  question  of  the 

(127) 


10 

Bible,  religion,  and  the  public  schools,  in  order  to  discover  the  status 
of  the  question  before  us  and  then  to  offer  some  remarks  indicating 
the  conclusion. 

(1.)  The  Status  of  State  Universities 
These  institutions  are  brought  into  existence  by  the  state  through 
provision  in  the  constitution,  as  in  Colorado,  (one  of  the  newer  states), 
or  by  act  of  the  legislature,  as  in  Ohio  and  most  states  where  statehood 
was  a  fact  prior  to  the  organization  of  the  university.  These  institu- 
tions, therefore,  enjoy  whatever  rights  are  prescribed  by  statutes,  or 
are  accorded  by  common  consent  because  not  contrary  to  law  or  con- 
stitution. The  state  university  is  therefore,  limited  by  its  legal  and 
its  constitutional  rights.  Anything  contrary  to  either  law  or  consti- 
tution would  be  denied.  It  is  worth  while  to  note  that  in  nearly  every 
case,  custom  has  grown  up  in  these  institutions  somewhat  in  harmony 
with  popular  sentiment.  In  many  of  the  state  universities  the  ordi- 
nary customs  prevalent  at  denominational  colleges  prevail.  This, 
however,  is  purely  a  matter  of  custom  and  not  a  matter  of  legal  right. 
Many  of  these  customs,  including  some  religious  exercises,  would 
probably  cease  if  the  question  were  raised  in  a  legal  or  technical  way. 
Our  discussion  must  not,  therefore,  assume  that  existing  practices  are 
always  matters  of  right.  The  right  of  the  state  to  engage  in  education 
is  established  beyond  successful  dispute ;  whether  there  are  any  limits 
to  the  state's  right  to  engage  in  education,  is  sometimes  debated; 
whether  it  may  undertake  education  in  religion,  resolves  itself,  there- 
fore, into  a  question  as  to  the  limits  to  be  placed  upon  the  state's 
right  to  educate.  Upon  this  question  constitutions,  laws,  and  court 
decisions  are  instructive  in  that  they  represent  the  popular  will  on  this 

issue. 

(2.)     Some  Court  Decisions 

Among  the  earlier  decisions  on  the  question  of  the  Bible  in  public 
schools,  I  have  read  one  from  New  England,  (which,  unfortunately, 
is  not  at  hand)  in  which  the  court  decided  that  the  reading  of  the  Bible 
was  not  an  infringement  upon  the  rights  of  conscience.  The  decision 
went  further  and  declared  that  for  a  small  minoritv  of  people  to  object 
to  certain  religious  exercises  would  overturn  popular  government, 
inasmuch  as  any  one  person  would  be  able  under  such  ruling,  to  thwart 
the  purpose  and  desire  of  a  practically  unanimous  community. 

The  case  of  the  Board  of  Education  of  the  city  of  Cincinnati, 
versus  John  D.  Minor,  et  al.,  is  reported  at  length  in  volume  twenty- 
three  of  the  Ohio  Reports.  This  case  rose  out  of  two  resolutions, 
namely:  "Resolved,  That  religious  instruction  and  the  reading  of 
religious  books,  including  the  Holy  Bible,  are  prohibited  in  the  com- 
mon schools  of  Cincinnati,  it  being  the  true  object  and  intent  of  this 
rule  to  allow  the  children  of  the  parents  of  all  sects  and  opinions,  in 
matters  of  faith  and  worship,  to  enjoy  alike  the  benefit  of  the  common 
school  fund. 

(128) 


11 

Second,  "Resolved,  That  so  much  of  the  regulations  on  the  course 
of  study  and  the  text-books  in  the  intermediate  and  district  schools 
(page  213.  annual  report),  as  reads  af  follows,  'The  opening  exercises 
in  every  department  shall  commence  by  reading  a  portion  of  the  Bible 
by  or  under  the  direction  of  the  teacher,  and  appropriate  singing  by 
the  pupils,'  be  repealed."  Upon  hearing,  the  Superior  Court  of  Cin- 
cinnati gave  judgment  for  the  plaintiff  and  granted  a  perpetual 
injunction  against  the  enforcement  of  the  resolutions,  or  either  of  them. 
The  case  was  then  appealed  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  Ohio,  and  the 
judgment  reversed  and  original  petition  dismissed.  This  case  was 
argued  with  great  ability,  and  covered  completely  the  question  of  the 
Bible  and  religious  instruction  in  the  public  schools  of  Ohio.  In  the 
wide  range  of  discussion  the  court  saw  fit  to  express  its  conviction 
that  there  was  a  total  abstinence  of  the  legislature  looking  to  the  en- 
forcement of  the  religious  instruction  or  the  reading  of  religious  books 
in  the  public  schools.  It  further  commented  upon  the  term,  "relig- 
ion, "  to  the  effect  that  it  must  mean  the  religion  of  man  and  not  the 
religion  of  anv  class  of  men,  in  proof  of  which  the  Court  affirmed  when 
the  constitution  spoke  of  all  men  having  certain  rights,  it  could  not 
mean  merely  all  Christian  men,  and  called  attention  to  the  fact  that 
some  of  the  men  who  framed  the  constitution  were  not  Christian  men. 

(2.)  Another  important  decision  was  in  the  Board  of  Education 
in  the  city  of  Detroit.  Section  thirty-nine  of  the  constitution  of 
Michigan  provides  "That  the  legislature  shall  pass  no  law  to  prevent 
any  person  from  worshiping  Almighty  God  according  to  the  dictates 
of  his  own  conscience,  or  compel  any  person  to  attend,  erect,  or  to  pay 
tithes,  taxes,  or  other  rates,  for  the  support  of  any  minister  of  the 
gospel  or  teacher  of  religion."  This  case  was  brought  to  compel  the 
board  to  discontinue  the  use  of  a  certain  book  known  as  "Readings 
from  the  Bible"  in  the  public  schools  of  Detroit.  The  decision  of  the 
Court  finally  was  to  the  effect  that  reading  of  such  extract  was  not  in 
violation  of  any  constitutional  provision.  Some  argument  was  there 
made  to  show  that  historically  the  teacher  of  religion  was  synony- 
mous with  the  minister  of  the  gospel.  It  is  a  matter  of  doubt,  how- 
ever, whether  that  decision  would  be  sustained  by  the  court  now  if 
the  question  were  presented  involving  the  demand  of  state  funds  for 
the  person  whose  duty  would  be  to  teach  religion. 

(3.)  The  case  involving  the  city  of  Edgerton,  Wisconsin,  has 
attracted  wide  attention.     This  decision  involved  the  following  items: 

First,  that  the  use  of  the  Bible  as  a  text  book,  and  that  stated 
reading  thereof,  in  the  public  schools,  is  sectarian  instruction,  within 
the  meaning  of  the  constitution  of  Wisconsin  which  ordains  that  no 
such  instruction  shall  be  allowed  schools.  The  fact  that  children 
were  not  compelled  to  remain  did  not,  in  the  judgment  of  the  court, 
remove  the  cause  for  complaint. 

(129) 


12 

Second,  that  Bible  reading,  in  common  schools,  as  a  text  book,  is 
religious  worship  and  constitutes  the  school  house,  for  the  time  being 
a  place  of  worship,  and  said  reading  during  school  hours  against  the 
consent  of  the  tax-payer  compels  him  to  support  a  place  of  worship. 

Third,  all  Bible  reading  in  common  schools  as  a  text  book,  is  sec- 
tarian instruction,  and  the  money  drawn  from  the  state  treasury  for 
the  support  of  such  schools  is  "  For  the  benefit  of  a  religious  seminary  " 
within  the  meaning  of  section  eighteen,  article  one  of  the  constitution 
of  Wisconsin,  prohibiting  such  appropriation  of  the  state  funds. 

Taking  these  few  decisions  as  a  basis,  and  probably  a  fair  precedent 
for  any  other  cases  that  might  arise,  I  offer  the  following  remarks: 

First,  there  is  a  distinct  statement  in  the  constitution  of  Michigan 
that  no  person  can  be  compelled  to  attend,  erect  or  support,  against 
his  will,  any  place  of  religious  worship,  or  pay  tithes,  taxes,  or  other 
rates  for  the  support  of  any  minister  of  the  gospel,  or  teacher  of 
religion.  Under  that  provision,  I  do  not  believe  it  would  be  possible 
to  use  any  of  the  public  finances  of  the  state  of  Michigan  for  the  pur- 
pose of  carrying  forward  religious  education  in  the  University  of  Michi- 
gan. If  it  were  done  it  would  be  by  concession  and  custom,  and  not 
by  authority  and  right  of  law. 

Second,  the  decision  in  the  Wisconsin  case  makes  it  clear  that  the 
constitution  there  would  prohibit  religious  education  in  any  school 
supported  by  the  state.  If  the  reading  of  the  Bible  is  to  be  construed 
as  sectarian  instruction,  I  can  hardly  conceive  that  any  instruction  in 
religion  could  be  provided  that  could  not  be  subject  to  the  same  criti- 
cism. The  principle  on  which  the  reading  of  the  Bible  was  declared 
an  act  of  worship,  would  apply  equally  to  other  instruction  upon  the 
subject  of  religion. 

Third,  the  decision  in  Ohio,  while  not  covering  exactly  the  points 
in  the  two  cases  named  above,  is  not  in  conflict  with  section  seven, 
article  one,  of  the  constitution  which  declares  that  no  person  shall  be 
compelled  to  attend,  erect,  or  support,  any  place  of  worship,  or  maintai 
any  form  of  worship,  against  his  consent.  The  constitution  further 
provides  that  no  religious,  or  other  sect  or  sects,  is  ever  to  have  any 
exclusive  right  to,  or  control  of,  the  school  fund  of  this  state.  Under 
this  clause  no  religious  education  could  be  undertaken  that  would  be 
sufficiently  broad  or  indefinite  to  evade  the  charge  of  being  sectarian. 

Fourth,  I  have  not  had  opportunity  to  make  an  examination  of  the 
constitutional  provisions  or  of  the  court  decisions  of  all  the  states  in 
which  state  universities  are  located,  but  it  may  be  fair,  in  addition  to 
the  above,  to  presume  that  all  state  universities  are  subject  to  sub- 
stantially the  same  limitations.  This  being  true,  the  conclusion  is 
obvious  that  formal  religious  education  can  never  have  a  legal  status 
in -a  state  university. 


(130) 


13 

(3.)  May  Any  Religious  Education  Be  Undertaken? 
If  we  are  to  abide  by  the  admission  that  formal  religious  education 
may  not  be  undertaken  at  the  state's  expense,  the  question  still  re- 
mains whether  there  is  anything  in  religious  education  that  may  be 
undertaken.  Here  the  controversy  is  somewhat  instructive.  The 
agnostic  has  objected  to  all  theological  dogma,  and  the  denominational 
adherent  objects  to  different  types  of  doctrine.  There  seems  in  these 
later  days,  however,  a  steady  development  among  Christian  people 
toward  the  conclusion  that  religion  is  greater  than  any  of  its  doctrines, 
that  there  a-e  some  vital  things  in  religion  upon  which  all  agree.  The 
essentials  of  religious  sentiment,  such  as  reverence,  faithfulness,  faith 
in  the  unseen,  duty  of  worship,  obedience  to  the  law  of  love  as  set 
forth  in  the  New  Testament,  and  many  others  of  the  great  principles  of 
religion,  seem  to  be  agreed  upon.  Furthermore,  it  is  asserted  that 
unless  a  teacher  can  arouse  this  sentiment  in  his  pupil,  he  is  lacking  in 
complete  preparation  for  his  work.  So  long  as  the  American  people 
are  a  religious  people,  it  may  be  assumed  that  teachers  in  state  uni- 
versities will  be  representatives  of  our  common  religious  life.  Relig- 
ion will  therefore  be  taught  by  example  rather  than  by  precept.  The 
influence  of  the  individual  teacher  will  always  be  a  potent  factor  in 
developing  the  religious  character  of  the  student.  It  is  interesting  to 
observe  that  professors  in  state  universities  are  remarkably  free  from 
adverse  criticism  on  the  ground  of  anti-religious  tendencies,  or  on  the 
ground  of  being  narrow,  sectarian  advocates  of  individual  views.  So 
far,  therefore,  as  the  personal  relations  are  involved,  the  religious 
condition  will  compare  favorably  with  that  in  schools  where  formal 
religious  education  is  attempted.  One  other  suggestion  is  that  a  state 
university  may  undertake  to  cooperate  with  religious  organizations 
who  voluntarily  offer  to  students  instruction  in  religion.  This  method 
has  already  been  adopted  in  a  number  of  state  universities  and  seems 
to  be  a  practical  solution  of  a  recognized  difficulty. 


HOW  FAR  THE  STATE  UNIVERSITY  MAY  TEACH  MORALS 

Reverend  Francis  Cassilly,  S.  J. 
Vice-President,  St.  Ignatius  College,  Chicago 

Some  thirty  or  forty  years  ago,  the  theory  became  prevalent  that 
all  social  ills  came  from  ignorance,  and  that  if  ignorance  were  once 
removed  from  the  country,  a  millenium  of  peace  and  happiness  would 
dawn.  So  in  every  direction  common  schools  were  opened,  high 
schools  were  erected,  gymnastic  apparatus  was  installed,  kindergartens 
were  begun,  school  books  and  stationery  were  given  away  free,  and  in 
fine  the  educational  frenzy  of  the  hour  in  America  reached  a  height 
that  the  world  had  never  seen  before.     Meanwhile  all  impatiently 

(131) 


14 

waited  for  crime  to  disappear  from  the  earth.  For  some  reason,  how- 
ever, the  state  of  primieval  innocence  was  rather  slow  in  coming.  But 
this  did  not  damp  the  ardor  of  the  educational  enthusiasts;  they  con- 
cluded that  they  had  not  yet  done  sufficient  for  the  education  of  the 
masses,  so  they  raised  the  school  palaces  a  story  or  two  higher,  cov- 
ered the  walls  of  the  class-rooms  with  art  pictures,  opened  domestic 
science  classes,  installed  manual  training  plants,  and  then  sat  down  in 
calm  confidence  to  await  results. 

The  result  came,,  but  it  was  quite  different  from  what  they  had 
expected.  The  newspapers  have  become  catalogues  of  crime.  The 
old-time  honesty  and  spirit  of  honor  are  fast  disappearing  from  com- 
mercial life.  Disclosures  are  made  day  after  day  of  the  dishonesty  of 
men  who  were  regarded  as  the  bulwarks  of  society.  The  divorce  mills 
are  grinding  faster  and  faster,  and  still  they  can  scarcely  keep  up  with 
the  clamor  of  those  waiting  to  be  loosed  from  sacred  obligations.  Old 
prisons  are  being  enlarged  and  new  ones  built;  special  courts  and 
prisons  are  being  established  for  juvenile  criminals.  Everywhere 
there  is  a  mad  race  for  wealth,  and  the  old  ideals  of  peace  and  content 
and  honor  are  fading  away.  In  fact  the  degeneracy  of  society  has 
become  so  notorious  as  to  challenge  the  attention  of  the  most  thought- 
less; and  the  query  springs  naturally  to  the  lips,  "Is  this  the  result  of 
the  great  expenditure  of  time  and  care  on  education  ?  Certainly  if  it 
is,  then  education  is  not  the  great  panacea  for  all  ills  that  it  was  hoped 
it  would  be. " 

Professor  E.  R.  Morrison  of  San  Bernardino,  California,  writing 
in  the  Educational  Review,  (*),  said:  'That  some  change  in  the 
educational  system  of  the  country,  is  imperatively  required,  seems  to 
be  generally  admitted.  It  is  an  educational  system  which  fails  to 
educate.  If  our  schools  are  doing  their  work  efficiently,  how  comes  it 
that  our  criminal  statistics  are  the  most  terrible  which  the  world  has 
to  show?" 

At  the  National  Prison  Congress,  opened  in  December,  1897,  at 
Austin,  Texas,  the  President,  General  RoelifE  Brinkerhoff  said,  "First 
and  foremost  what  is  essential  is,  to  revolutionize  our  educational 
system  from  top  to  bottom,  so  that  good  morals,  good  citizenship  and 
ability  to  earn  an  honest  living  shall  be  its  primary  purpose,  instead 
of  intellectual  culture  as  heretofore." 

Only  the  other  day  in  his  address  of  welcome  to  the  students  of 
Columbia  University,  President  Nicholas  Murray  Butler  said,  "If  we 
fail  in  forming  those  traits  and  habits  which  together  constitute 
character,  all  our  learning  is  an  evil.  *  *  *  New  statutes  may  be 
needed,  but  statutes  will  not  put  moral  principle  where  it  does  not 
exist.  The  greed  for  gain  and  the  greed  for  power  have  blinded  men 
to  the  old-time  distinction  between  right  and  wrong.     Both  among 

*Nov.  1897. 

(132) 


15 

business  men  and  at  the  bar  are  found  advisers,  counted  shrewd  and 
successful,  who  have  substituted  the  penal  code  for  the  moral  law  as 
the  standard  of  conduct.  Right  and  wrong  have  given  way  to  the 
subtler  distinction  between  legal,  not  illegal,  and  illegal;  or  better, 
perhaps,  between  honest,  law-honest  and  dishonest." 

Quotations  might  be  multiplied  indefinitely,  all  going  to  show  the 
general  opinion  that  society  is  on  the  down  grade,  and  attributing  the 
fact  to  the  absence  of  religious  and  moral  training  in  school. 

The  next  question  to  consider  is,  what  is  to  be  done  about  it? 
How  shall  we  put  religion  and  morality  into  our  schools?  In  the  olden 
days  before  the  secularizing  of  the  school,  that  is  before  the  state  set 
herself  up  in  the  business  of  education,  there  was  no  difficulty  in  the 
wav.  for  all  schools  were  Christian,  they  all  taught  religion  and  moral- 
ity as  well  as  branches  of  profane  knowledge.  It  is  the  ill-adjusted 
arrangement  of  religious  and  secular  education  as  conducted  by  the 
state,  that  has  brought  society  to  the  sad  pass  in  which  it  now  is. 

The  people  of  England  lately  found  themselves  facing  practically 
the  same  conditions  as  ourselves,  but  fortunately  they  have  evolved  a 
plan,  which  perhaps  is  the  best  that  can  be  devised  under  the 
circumstances.  Both  in  England  and  Canada  the  government  now 
extends  financial  aid  to  all  the  denominational  schools,  so  that  the 
people  of  any  denomination  who  desire  their  children  to  have  a  relig- 
ious training,  can  secure  it  for  them  with  the  aid  of  the  government. 
According  to  this  plan  the  state  does  not  pay  for  religion  or  religious 
teaching,  it  pays  merely  for  the  secular  instruction,  and  the  religious 
and  moral  training  is  given  by  the  denomination. 

What  we  have  thus  far  said  applies  to  education  in  general,  but  the 
question  to  be  discussed  to-day  is  restricted  to  state  universities. 

No  doubt  most  of  us  here  to-day  agree  in  so  far,  that  we  should 
like  to  see  some  sort  of  religious  or  moral  training  put  into  the  state 
universities.  For  the  young  men  and  young  women,  who  frequent 
universities,  are  still  in  their  formative  period,  they  are  growing  and 
expanding  intellectually,  and  while  there  is  intellectual  growth  and 
expansion  there  should  necessarily  be  moral  and  religious  growth  and 
expansion.  The  faculties  of  man,  his  intellect,  will,  and  memory, 
must  all  be  systematically  developed  if  we  would  have  him  a  perfect 
being.  The  man  whose  mind  is  developed  and  vigorous,  but  whose 
will  is  atrophied  may  indeed  be  a  keen  scholar,  but  he  will  be  a  moral 
wreck,  and  the  shores  of  history  are  lined  with  the  wrecks  of  great 
careers  which  have  been  shipwrecked  by  the  lack  of  moral  ballast. 
How  then  can  we  inject  moral  training  into  the  state  university?  Let 
us  examine  some  proposed  plans  in  detail.  First,  the  state  might 
found  a  university  for  each  denomination.  But  as  there  are  hundreds 
of  denominations  in  the  state,  this  plan  is  evidently  impossible. 

Secondly,  the  state  might  turn  over  the  spiritual  direction  of  each 

(133) 


16 

department  of  the  university  to  a  different  denomination,  somewhat 
on  the  department  store  plan,  but  this  would  evidently  lead  to  "con- 
fusion worse  confounded. " 

A  third  plan  and  the  most  obvious  one,  is  for  the  state  to  teach 
religion  in  its  university.  But  how  can  this  be  done  in  a  country 
which  has  no  state  religion  ?  Would  it  be  considered  fair  to  the  other 
denominations  to  place  the  university  under  the  control  of  one  ?  This 
plan  while  the  simplest  of  all,  is  open  to  the  greatest  objections  of  all. 

In  fact,  evident  as  it  is  to  all,  that  religion  should  be  taught  in  a 
university,  nothing  is  further  from  the  province  of  a  government  than 
to  go  into  the  teaching  of  religion.  A  government  has  not  unlimited 
rights  and  powers.  Its  functions  and  duties  are  clearly  prescribed 
by  its  aim  and  object,  which  is  the  well-being  and  happiness  of  the 
people  and  the  safeguarding  of  their  rights.  And  it  certainly  is  not 
conducive  to  the  happiness  of  a  people  nor  favorable  to  their  rights 
and  liberties,  to  have  the  state  sit  on  the  seat  of  religious  authority 
and  expound  religious  dogmas  and  duties.  Surely  the  state  has  no 
call  from  nature  or  from  God  to  usurp  the  functions  of  religious  author- 
ity. Never  was  it  said  to  the  state  "Going,  therefore  teach  ye  all 
nations,  *  *  *  teaching  them  to  observe  all  things  whatsoever  I 
have  commanded  you. " 

Of  course  in  saying  this,  I  do  not  mean  that  the  state  is  forbidden 
to  aid  and  favor  religion.  No,  it  is  a  solemn  duty  of  the  state  to  pro- 
mote what  is  conducive  to  the  well-being  of  the  people,  and  certainly 
the  spirit  of  religion  and  the  observance  of  religious  duties  are  of  the 
greatest  importance  to  a  commonwealth.  But  what  I  do  maintain, 
is  that  the  state  as  such  has  no  right  to  establish  a  school  of  its  own, 
and  then  teach  of  its  own  authority  any  religious  dogmas.  For  the 
question  would  naturally  arise,  where  does  the  state  get  the  dogmas 
it  teaches?  If  it  has  no  religious  autonomy  of  its  pwn,  it  has  no  more 
right  to  set  up  in  the  business  of  religion  than  it  has  to  conduct  agri- 
culture or  to  enter  upon  purely  commercial  enterprises,  and  in  fact 
much  less. 

Thus  far  probably  there  is  no  difference  of  opinion  amongst  us. 
Well-meaning  people,  however,  feeling  the  pressure  of  necessity,  and 
being  unwilling  to  give  up  the  material  advantages  which  the  liberal 
endowments  of  our  government  afford  to  state  universities,  and  at  the 
same  time  perceiving  the  dire  results  of  religionless  education,  are 
hoping  to  cut  the  Gordian  knot  by  excluding  religion  and  putting  in  a 
so-called  moral  training.  This  is  on  the  principle,  that  half  a  loaf  is 
better  than  no  bread.  Such  men  reason  thus.  We  cannot  teach 
dogma  or  religion  in  a  purely  state  school,  so  we  will  prescind  entirely 
from  positive  religion,  and  confine  ourselves  to  the  teaching  of  moral 
truths,  to  inculcating  the  beauty  of  virtue  and  the  hideousness  of  vice. 

This  is  practically  the  question  at  issue  to-day. 

(134) 


17 

In  taking  up  this  proposition,  let  us  ask  ourselves  whether  it  is 
possible  to  divorce  morality  from  religion.  The  teacher  can  of  course 
present  to  his  pupils  the  beauty  of  virtue,  he  can  tell  them  that  it  is 
right  and  proper  and  becoming  to  obey  their  parents,  to  speak  the 
truth,  to  abstain  from  drunkenness.  In  the  abstract,  no  doubt,  all 
students  would  agree  with  him.  Even  when  we  do  wrong,  our  intel- 
lect is  forced  to  admit  the  fitness  and  beauty  of  the  opposite  virtue; 
but  that  admission  is  not  sufficient  to  restrain  us  from  doing  what  we 
know  is  wrong.  Is  there  any  one  of  us  who  has  not  done  wrong,  and 
while  we  were  doing  it,  did  we  not  realize  and  admit  that  right-doing 
would  have  been  better  in  the  abstract?  We  did  wrong  although  we 
knew  it  was  wrong,  and  in  spite  of  a  natural  appreciation  and  admira- 
tion of  what  was  right.  To  know  the  right  is  one  thing,  to  do  it  is 
quite  another.  Morality  is  not  a  mere  theoretical  science,  it  is  emi- 
nently and  essentially  practical.  The  greatest  scoundrel  in  the 
countrv  often  knows  the  moral  law,  and  can  speak  its  praises  in  glow- 
ing words.  To  make  the  teaching  of  morality  practical,  it  is  necessary 
to  forge  a  connection  between  the  intellect  and  the  will,  it  is  necessary 
to  give  such  motives  to  the  will  as  to  make  our  love  of  the  good  effica- 
cious. And  what  motives  can  the  teacher  of  abstract  morality  pro- 
pose, if  he  prescinds  entirely  from  religion?  He  can  tell  the  young 
man  that  stealing  is  wrong,  that  it  is  in  bad  form,  that  it  is  against 
the  laws  of  his  countrv,  but  what  if  the  young  man  says  that  the  pos- 
session of  the  stolen  money  is  dearer  to  him  than  the  approbation  of 
his  conscience,  more  than  the  esteem  of  his  fellow  men,  and  that  as  to 
the  laws  of  his  country  he  will  trust  to  his  own  shrewdness  and  to  the 
cleverness  of  good  lawyers  to  keep  him  out  of  prison  ?  That  is  about 
as  far  as  the  teacher  of  simple  morality  can  go.  If  he  insists  further 
that  there  is  an  obligation  and  a  duty  to  keep  from  stealing,  because 
God  who  is  the  Creator  and  Master  of  us  all  has  forbidden  it,  and  that 
if  we  disobey  Him,  we  shall  incur  His  wrath  in  this  world,  and  punish- 
ment in  the  next ;  if  the  teacher  goes  farther  still  and  insists  that  God 
is  our  loving  Father,  who  gives  us  every  good  blessing,  that  He  loves 
His  good  children  who  obey  his  commands,  and  that  He  is  wounded 
when  we  disregard  them,  that  He  will  love  and  bless  us  in  this  world 
if  we  do  His  will,  and  that  He  will  give  us  the  delights  of  endless  bliss 
in  the  next,  why  the  teacher  certainly  proposes  efficacious  motives, 
which  are  sufficient  to  hold  a  man  in  check  under  the  direst  tempta- 
tions and  on  the  most  secret  occasions,  but  is  he  confining  himself  to 
teaching  morality?  Is  such  a  teacher  not  inculcating  religion?  He  is 
assuredly  basing  his  teaching  on  religious  dogmas.  He  asserts  that 
God  exists,  that  He  is  the  creator  and  father  of  the  world,  that  He  will 
reward  the  good  and  punish  the  wicked  after  death.  Are  not  all  these 
dogmas?  And  is  not  the  inculcating  of  these  dogmas,  religious  teach- 
ing?    In  other  words,  to  endeavor  to  teach  morality  without  giving 

(135) 


18 

strong  and  sufficient  motives  is  impossible,  and  strong  and  sufficient 
motives  can  be  obtained  only  from  the  arsenal  of  religion. 

Moreover,  supposing  it  possible  to  teach  morality  without  tres- 
passing on  the  forbidden  grounds  of  religion,  could  the  state  or  its 
representatives,  the  professors  of  a  state  university,  teach  a  complete 
and  consistent  system  of  morality?  To  pretend  to  teach  morality 
and  then  to  rest  content  with  the  inculcating  of  a  few  general  prin- 
ciples, such  as  "children  must  obey  their  parents,"  "we  must  not  lie 
or  steal, "  would  be  very  similar  to  the  action  of  one  who  would  teach 
a  few  axioms  of  geometry  and  a  few  theorems  about  the  straight  line, 
and  then  claim  that  he  had  taught  the  science  of  geometry.  Would 
not  such  teaching  be  labeled  quackery  by  all  honest  men? 

Morality  is  a  definite  and  complex  science.  And  is  it  within  the 
sphere  or  competence  of  the  state  to  teach  this  abstract  and  complex 
science?  Who  will  be  its  guide  and  authority?  What  religious 
denomination  will  direct  it  and  keep  it  from  error. 

Perhaps  you  will  say  that  it  will  choose  a  system  on  which  all  men 
agree.  Where  will  you  find  such  a  system?  Would  the  state  insist 
in  its  university  on  the  Sunday  closing  law,  would  it  sanction  the  tak- 
ing of  "tainted  money,"  would  it  permit  divorce,  would  it  put  a  ban 
on  smoking,  would  it  allow  you  to  pledge  your  neighbor  in  a  glass  of 
foaming  wine?     Men  do  not  always  agree  on  what  is  right  and  wrong. 

Perhaps  you  will  say  the  teaching  of  state  morality  would  be  eclec- 
tic. This  might  give  us  an  American  code  of  morality,  or  rather 
different  codes  of  morality  for  every  separate  state,  so  that  what  would 
be  right  in  Illinois  would  be  wrong  in  New  York  or  Alabama.  The 
advocates  of  Sunday  ball  playing  might  have  influence  enough  to  have 
it  stamped  with  the  approval  of  the  state  university  in  Illinois,  while 
the  University  of  Michigan  or  Iowa  might  hold  up  their  hands  in  pious 
horor  at  such  conduct. 

No:  morality  is  a  science  and  an  exact  science,  and  it  must  be 
taught  in  the  same  way  in  all  the  states.  The  axioms  and  conclusions 
of  geometrv  are  the  same  the  world  over,  and  so  must  be  the  principles 
of  morality. 

Looking  at  the  question  then  from  a  purely  theoretical  standpoint 
as  I  have  done,  it  bristles  with  difficulties. 

The  dire  results  of  religionless  education  in  the  common  schools 
and  higher  institutions  of  learning  are  so  evident  on  all  sides,  that  men 
of  wisdom  and  foresight  are  clamoring  for  a  change.  President  Eliot 
of  Harvard  has  said  (*),  "No  educational  system  can  be  successfully 
carried  on  without  education  in  morals,  and  no  education  in  morals 
is  possible  without  a  religious  life. " 

Mr.  Frederick  Harrison  (t)  writes,  "If  there  be  such  things  as 
morality  and  religion,  and  if  anything  can  be  said  or  done  by  way 

*Outlook,  Jan.,  1898.     ^Forum,  Dec,  1891. 

(136) 


19 

of  inculcating  them  or  applying  them  to  life,  then  education  must  be 
inspired  by  religion  as  well  as  morality.  *  *  *  Morality  apart  from 
religion  is  a  rattling  of  dry  bones.  " 

If  then  religion  and  morality  are  necessary,  and  if  the  state  uni- 
versity' can  teach  neither,  both  because  such  teaching  is  beyond  its 
sphere,  and  even  if  not  beyond  its  sphere,  beyond  its  competence  and 
ability,  and  especially  if  morality  cannot  possibly  be  severed  from 
religion,  then  it  would  seem  that  the  state  university  as  at  present 
conducted  is  an  anomaly  in  the  educational  world. 

Such,  I  wish  to  emphasize,  is  the  theoretical  view,  but  perhaps 
wiser  men  than  I,  men  whose  ability  has  placed  them  in  the  forefront 
of  the  great  thinkers  and  doers  of  the  day,  men  who  are  conducting 
great  universities  to  a  wonderful  height  of  material  success,  will  be 
able  to  devise  some  means  or  methods,  which  will  save  the  state  uni- 
versity, and  at  the  same  time  save  the  magnificent  body  of  students, 
those  earnest  young  men  and  women  who  are  the  hope  of  our  country, 
from  the  terrible  effects  of  naturalism  and  secularism  which  threaten 
to  engulf  our  countrv. 


APPOINTED  DISCUSSION 

Reverend  William  Franklin  Anderson,  D.D.  "^ 
Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Education,  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  New 

York  City 

There  are  certain  questions  which,  by  their  nature,  are  of  interest 
chiefly,  almost  solely,  to  the  friend  and  representative  of  the  state 
institution.  There  are  other  questions  which,  for  the  same  reason, 
are  of  chief,  almost  sole  interest  to  the  representative  of  the  denomi- 
national institution.  But  the  question  which  we  have  before  us  this 
morning  has  the  merit  of  possessing  a  vital  interest  to  the  friends  of 
both  types  of  institutions.  The  friend  of  the  state  institution  is 
interested  in  the  subject  of  the  religious  life  of  the  institution,  if  for  no 
other  motive,  because  of  the  motive  of  self  preservation.  It  was 
stated  yesterday  by  President  James  and  emphasized  by  the  speakers 
this  morning  that  the  ideals  of  this  republic  are  essentially  Christian 
and  religious.  Christian  in  their  ideals  of  education.  Christian  in  their 
ideals  as  to  what  the  product  of  an  educational  institution  ought  to 
be.  The  friends  of  the  state  universities  are  very  well  aware  that  they 
cannot  afford  to  have  it  said  of  their  institutions  that  they  are  Godless 
and  faithless;  and  this  charge  which  is  made  against  the  state  institu- 
tions by  wholesale  in  some  quarters,  is  unjust  and  untrue. 

The  friend  of  the  denominational  institution  is  interested  in  this 
subject,  because  in  every  state  university  there  are  representatives  of 
his  denomination,  toward  whom  his  denomination  has  a  vital  re- 
sponsibility.    I  have  learned  since  coming  to  this  place,  for  instance, 

(137) 


20 

that  a  census  was  taken  of  this  student  body  the  past  year  and  it  was 
found  that  sixty -two  and  one-half  per  cent  of  the  student  body  of  the 
University  of  IlHnois  belonged  to  the  different  branches  of  the  Chris- 
tian Church.  He  would  be  a  very  stupid  man,  who  could  overlook 
the  responsibility  of  his  denomination  to  the  members  of  his  denomi- 
nation that  are  found  in  the  state  universities. 

I  have  made  the  discovery,  for  instance,  that  among  the  students 
of  this  university  there  were,  last  year,  no  less  than  eight  hunderd 
that  belonged  to  the  church  of  which  I  have  the  honor  to  be  a  repre- 
sentative and  a  member.  I  must  feel  that  my  denomination  has  a 
responsibility  toward  these  students  in  the  state  university. 

Now  I  was  very  much  interested  in  the  discussion  of  the  legal 
status,  as  presented  by  President  Thompson  in  the  first  paper  that 
was  read  this  morning.  And  considered  purely  from  the  legal  status, 
I  am  sure  we  shall  all  have  to  agree  with  him,  but  I  am  sure  he  will 
agree  with  me,  and  that  every  representative  of  the  state  institution 
will  agree  with  me  that  it  would  be  a  positive  misfortune  if  the  state 
institutions  were  held  down  to  that  exact  legal  status.  We  are  facing 
a  condition  in  our  state  institutions,  not  simply  a  theory.  The  theory 
has  been  set  forth  very  clearly,  but  the  conditions  which  grow  out  of 
the  life  of  the  people,  and  which  have  been  created  in  response  to  the 
ideals  of  the  people  are  the  conditions  with  which  we  must  deal.  It 
will  be  my  purpose  in  the  little  time  alotted  me,  to  bring  to  your 
thought,  if  possible,  some  practical  way  in  which  the  interests  of  re- 
ligion may  be  conserved  in  the  state  universities. 

If  I  have  grasped  the  problem  properly,  it  seems  to  me  that  vital 
help  may  be  given  to  the  subject  of  religion  from  at  least  three  sources. 
I  believe  that  the  personnel  of  the  head  of  the  institution  and  of  the 
men  and  women  who  are  associated  with  him  in  the  instructional  work 
of  the  institution  is  a  very  vital  thing  in  the  religious  life  of  any  state 
university.  A  little  time  ago  it  so  happened  that  a  gentleman  of  my 
acquaintance  was  invited  to  become  the  head  of  one  of  the  state  uni- 
versities. He  had  been  reared  within  the  boundaries  of  that  state; 
he  knew  it  was  a  Chrisitan  commonwealth ;  he  well  understood  that 
the  only  way  by  which  the  university  could  be  made  a  conspicuous 
success  was  by  meeting  the  ideals  of  the  people  touching  religion.  He 
made  this  answer  to  the  board  of  regents  who  offered  the  position: 
"Gentlemen,  I  understand  there  are  three  or  four  or  five  men  in  the 
teaching  force  of  your  institution  who  are  openlv  and  avowedly  and 
aggressively  antagonistic  to  the  Christian  faith.  My  acceptance  of 
the  position  which  you  have  offered  me,  must  be  conditioned  upon  the 
dismissal  of  those  men  froin  the  teaching  force  of  the  institution. 
Now,  if  vou  will  clean  house  at  the  beginning,  I  will  make  it  my  busi- 
ness to  see  that  the  house  is  kept  clean.  "  And  they  were  so  anxious 
to  secure  his  services,  that  they  complied  with  his  conditions.     Those 

(138) 


21 

gentlemen  who  were  openly  and  avowedly  antagonistic  to  the  Chris- 
tian faith  were  informed  that  their  services  were  needed  no  longer.  I 
am  in  touch  with  the  conditions  of  that  state  universit}',  and  I  am 
glad  to  be  able  to  say  that  it  is  a  stronghold  of  Christian  influence  in 
its  power  over  the  lives  of  the  student  body  who  are  committed  to  its 
care.  I  wish  this  were  true  always.  I  am  bound  to  believe  that  these 
facts  are  not  always  true  of  all  the  state  universities. 

Visiting  in  another  section  of  the  country  I  came  in  touch  with  a 
gentleman  who  had  a  sympathetic  interest  in  the  life  of  the  university. 
He  was  not  a  cold  and  unsympathetic  critic,  but  he  informed  me  that 
there  was  but  one  man  on  the  teaching  force  of  that  institution  whose 
influence  was  in  any  way  helpful  to  the  religious  life  of  the  students. 

I  have  been  informed  of  this  condition  in  another  institution,  that 
certain  professors  have  boasted  that  they  have  been  successful  in  un- 
dermining the  faith  of  some  of  the  s^-  'v-'nts  who  have  come  to  those 
halls  of  learning. 

You  will  remember  that  splendid  discussion  of  faith  and  religion 
by  that  great  teacher.  Principal  J.  C.  Sharp,  and  you  will  recall  that 
in  one  of  his  great  paragraphs  he  declares  that  there  is  not  learning 
enough  in  all  the  universities  of  Europe  to  pay  for  the  destruction  of  a 
man's  faith  in  God  and  in  the  things  that  are  eternal. 

Another  help  for  the  life  of  the  state  university  comes  from  the 
organizations  that  exist  among  the  students  themselves.  These  or- 
ganizations are  a  tesitmony  to  the  fact  that  the  students  feel  the  need 
of  a  certain  religious  touch  which  cannot  be  furnished  in  any  other 
way. 

I  was  greatly  interested  a  little  while  a'go  to  come  upon  a  discussion 
which  President  Eliot  of  Harvard  presented  to  the  National  Educa- 
tional Association  last  vear,  an  admirable  paper,  entitled,  "A  new 
Definition  of  the  Cultivated  Man."  He  says  that  there  have  been 
many  changes  in  our  educational  ideas,  and  it  is  well  at  the  opening 
of  the  new  century  that  we  should  gather  up  the  results  of  what  has 
been  accomplished  and  inform  ourselves  of  the  vital  things  in  the  life 
of  the  cultivated  man  of  to-day,  and  he  mentions  this  as  the  very  first 
thing,  that  the  moral  sense  of  the  world  makes  character  a  more  im- 
portant element  in  the  education  of  today  that  it  has  been  at  any 
time  in  the  hstory  of  the  past.  Now,  religious  organizations  among 
the  students  themselves  are  in  the  interest  of  the  nurture  of  the 
religious  life.  Many  of  these  boys  and  girls  come  from  religious  homes. 
If  the  atmosphere  of  the  institution  is  unfriendly  to  the  truths  in 
which  they  have  been  reared,  they  feel  at  a  great  loss.  I  think  it  goes 
without  saying  that  during  the  formative  period  of  life,  the  atmos- 
phere of  any  educational  institution  ought  to  be  genial  and  helpful  in 
the  nurture  of  the  higher  ideals  and  the  best  and  noblest  things  of  life. 
I  rejoice  in  the  prosperity  of  such  organizations  as  the  Young  Men's 

(139) 


22 

Christian  Association,  and  was  delighted  to  hear  the  statement  made 
yesterday  by  the  distinguished  president  of  this  university,  touching 
the  strength  of  that  organization  in  this  institution.  And  then  such 
movements  as  the  student  volunteer  movement, — who  will  tell  the 
far  reaching  influence  of  the  work  that  has  been  conducted  under  the 
auspices  of  this  organization  under  the  supervision  of  Mr.  John  R. 
Mott  ?  It  seems  to  me  every  state  institution  ought  to  welcome  such 
organizations  in  their  student  body,  for  after  all,  the  purpose  of  the 
university  is  to  make  manhood,  to  create  character  of  the  highest  and 
noblest  type. 

There  is  yet  another  help  to  the  religious  life  of  the  state  university, 
and  that  is  the  help  which  the  church  can  give.  And  I  am  glad  for  the 
signs  that  are  appearing  everywhere  in  this  day  in  which  we  live,  that 
the  church  is  becoming  more  vitally  concerned  in  this  problem  than 
it  ever  has  been  in  the  past,  that  it  is  beginning  to  see  that  the  state 
university  affords  a  great  opportunity  for  religious  work.  Just  what 
practical  form  this  effort  will  take  is  not  yet  quite  definitely  settled, 
but  some  of  the  denominations  are  thoroughly  alive  to  the  subject, 
and  I  am  sure  it  is  a  matter  of  only  a  short  time  until  all  of  them  will 
fall  into  line.  A  vear  ago,  there  was  brought  before  the  General 
Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  a  resolution  looking  toward  the 
appointment  of  a  committee  that  should  report  at  each  successive 
meeting  of  the  General  Assembly  touching  the  state  of  religion  in  state 
universities.  In  sorae  places  already  university  pastors  have  been 
appointed,  being  associated  with  a  church  located  favorably  for  work 
among  the  university  students.  All  these  I  hail  as  signs  of  progress 
along  the  right  line,  and  I  am  perfectly  confident  that  the  different 
denominations  are  seeing  their  opportunity  and  will  take  practical 
steps  in  the  near  future  for  the  realization  of  a  better  life  among  the 
students  of  the  state  institutions.  I  am  sure  it  would  not  be  a  difficult 
thing  to  prove  that  the  state  university  needs  the  touch  of  the  denomi- 
national institution  in  order  to  make  it  more  thoroughly  and  more 
genuinely  and  more  deeply  Christian.  It  would  not  be  difficult,  either 
to  prove  that  the  denominational  institution  needs  the  touch  of  the 
state  university  in  order  to  make  it  more  thoroughly  scientific  and 
more  genuinely  progressive. 


The  Very  Reverend  Dean  Duffy  " 
Danville,  Illinois 

I  have  been  taught  to  think  of  a  university  as  a  place  where  lumi- 
nous intellects  and  clean  hearts  teach  all  knowledge.  This  knowledge 
may  be  viewed  in  relation  to  God  in  theology,  to  man  in  literature, 
and  to  the  world  in  science.  These  branches  do  not  exist  in  them- 
selves as  isolated  or  independent  of  each  other;  they  run  into  each 

(140) 


23 

other ;  thev  are  essential  to  the  completion  of  each  other ;  they  form  a 
whole,  a  system,  and  a  view  of  them  in  all  their  parts  and  relations 
implies  that  knowledge  that  is  digested  and  received  actively  into  the 
intellect.  Cardinal  Newman  may  talk  of  it  as  knowledge  impreg- 
nated with  illumined  reason,  or  the  philosophic  habit.  Virchow  may 
speak  of  it  as  the  scientific  habit.  It  is  an  excellence  or  perfection  of 
intellect  that  would  in  itself  be  a  sufficient  reason  for  the  existence  of 
a  university.  The  university  as  a  living  organization  has  a  force  or  bias 
of  its  own  and  if  it  should  view  knowledge  as  a  thing  for  revenue  and 
revenue  onlv,  it  would  become  the  mortuary  vault  of  right  human  life. 

We  mav  discuss  about  the  utilities,  or  inutilities,  the  classical  or 
scientific  in  our  systems  of  education  but  if  our  university  life  should 
be  imbedded  in  matter,  it  would  be  infinitely  better,  like  the  poor  boy 
of  the  widowed  mother  in  the  poem,  that  our  youth  never  entered  its 
portals  remaining  "Dexterous  Gleaners"  in  a  narrow  field  with  books 
a  few,  and  such  opportunities  as  the  village  school  supplied; 

The  true,  the  logical  view  of  a  university  implies  a  clear,  calm  appre- 
hension of  all  branches  of  knowledge,  each  in  its  place  and  each  having 
its  own  characteristics.  I  cannot  consider  such  a  university  possible 
without  God  and  the  soul  as  integral  elements.  When  you  exclude 
the  mental  man  the  influence  of  mind  on  mind  and  of  mind  on  matter 
and  consider  physical  phenomena  and  brute  force  only,  then  you  may 
logically  exclude  truths  we  know  about  God.  The  name  university 
is  inconsistent  with  restriction  of  knowledge,  even  the  knowledge  of 
God  in  both  natural  and  revealed  order,  is  barren,  indeed,  a  university 
without  it  is  an  intellectual  absurdity.  Mutilate  the  Divine  and  the 
whole  of  secular  knowledge  is  broken  into  fragments ;  accept  the  truth 
of  God's  existence  and  all  principles  run  into  it  as  the  first  and  last. 
There  is  no  period  or  process  in  the  growth  of  human  life  when  moral 
and  religious  forces  can  be  dispensed  with.  How  can  we  then  consist- 
ently with  our  constitutional  limitations  have  all  knowledge  in  our 
university  system?  This  is  the  problem  we  are  invited  here  to.  dis- 
cuss. God  knows,  and  I  wish  all  men  to  know  that  I  want  no  estab- 
lished church  here  and  no  endowment  from  the  state  for  the  teaching 
of  my  religion.  Considering  our  conditions  and  the  institutions  we 
are  blessed  with,  I  would  call  it  "Blood  Money."  I  know  that  my 
church  has  suffered  in  the  past  from  state  connections,  tyrant  kings 
and  adulterous  emperors  for  a  nominal  protection  sought  to  make  it 
the  hand-made  instrument  of  the  state. 

State  endowment  tends  to  wither  the  generosity  that  is  and  should 
be  the  vital  influence  in  religious  life.  I  will  not  Hsten  to  the  suggestion 
that  a  true  and  noble  cause  in  America  and  especially  in  the  fertile  valley 
of  the  Mississippi,  can  fail  to  obtain  for  its  work  the  necessary  means. 

If  Church  Fairs  and  kindred  efforts  fail  us  the  Childr-en  of  light  may 
enter  the  Insurance  field  with  its  promise  of  Golden  Harvests. 

(141) 


24 

I  traveled  with  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  on  the  good  ship 
Celtic  and  I  was  pleased  with  much  I  heard  from  those  around  him  on 
the  subject  of  establishment  and  endowment.  He  ranks  next  to  the 
Princes  of  the  Blood  as  they  describe  them  at  home  and  in  his  presence 
religion  is  lifted  up  close  to  the  throne.  From  his  high  place  in  the 
House  of  Lords  he  has  a  voice  and  influence  in  all  legislation  that 
affects  religious  interests  and  it  was  made  clear  to  me  that  his  friends 
did  not  view  establishment  as  an  unmixed  good.  They  were  out- 
spoken in  regard  to  endowments.  If  the  state  would  give  us  the  old 
property  of  the  church  that  the  charity  and  benevolence  of  the  people 
bestowed  on  it  in  the  past  it  would  be  infinitelv  better.  It  is  our 
experience,  they  added,  that  State  aid  impedes  our  work.  Curates 
and  those  in  small  livings,  in  the  presence  of  the  endowment  system, 
are  deprived  of  that  voluntary  assistance  that  is  so  necessary  for  them. 
I  easily  concurred  with  this,  as  these  views  have  grown  into  my  sys- 
tem of  thought  until  they  have  become  a  part  of  myself.  A  state- 
endowed  religion  is  a  thing  of  the  past  and  not  to  be  thought  of  in 
our  environment.  The  church  that  seeks  it  will  cease  to  be.  Can  we 
hold  these  views  as  absolutely  true  and  hope  to  have  religion  as  an 
integral  elernent  in  our  system  of  education?  If  I  thought  the  diffi- 
culty was  inherent  in  the  nature  of  education  or  that  it  was  intrinsi- 
cally impossible  in  our  form  of  government,  I  would  not  be  here. 
There  are  grave  difficulties,  but  I  have  heard  much  here  that  inspires 
hope  and  courage.  I  listened  attentively  yesterday  and  this  morning 
and  I  was  edified.  The  trend  of  all  thought  was  full  of  God  and 
humanity. 

I  did  not  think  of  a  prepared  paper,  as  I  was  told  that  I  was  ex- 
pected to  review  or  discuss  the  papers  of  others.  My  work  was  light, 
as  I  subscribe  readily  to  all  I  heard  here.  It  is  the  gravest  problem 
ever  given  us  to  solve.  Individual  and  national  life  will  be  wholly 
determined  by  it.  I  feel  that  no  nation,  no  period  in  history  and  no 
phase  of  human  thought  was  better  fitted  to  solve  this  vital  question. 
We  have  wisely  separated  church  and  state,  looking  on  them  as  dis- 
tinct legal  entities,  yet  working  on  the  whole  in  harmony  and  sym- 
pathy for  the  higher  ideals.  America  has  taught  the  masses  here  and 
elsewhere  that  this  earth  is  theirs  and  that  they  may  also  in  faith  and 
hope  seek  the  Kingdom  to  come. 

We  saw  clearly  that  individual  and  church  eft'ort  in  education  did 
not  reach  the  masses  and  as  a  nation  we  sought  a  remedy  and  poured 
out  lavishly  treasures  of  heart  and  hand  on  it,  yet  preserving  the  free- 
dom of  education.  This  nation  has  done  so  much  for  childhood  and 
womanhood  that  we  dare  not  say  fail  where  she  is  seriously  concerned. 
Compromise  in  the  fuller  sense  is  the  first  principle  of  combination,  and 
all  but  the  essentials  mav  be  wiselv  modified. 

Those  who  want  all  things  their  own  way  will  some  day  have  all 

(142) 


25 

things  to  themselves.  Many  methods  will  be  tried  and  much  experi- 
ment before  final  and  definite  results  are  obtained.  I  can  only  sug- 
gest that  the  solution  of  this  problem  may  be  found  in  blending  vol- 
untary and  state  efforts  without  compromise  of  principle.  It  has 
been  tried  in  various  forms  in  England,  Canada  and  the  Continent  of 
Europe.  There  has  been  a  season  when  even  the  Fathers  of  the  Church 
were  taught  in  pagan  schools.  Voluntary  endowment  and  state  pat- 
ronage are  seen  at  their  best  in  the  ancient  university  of  Oxford,  the 
home  and  sanctuary  of  the  ideal  intellectual  excellence  that  religion 
nourishes  and  sanctifies.  It  is  said  that  this  school  gave  to  England 
those  heroes,  scholars,  statesmen,  and  sages  that  enabled  it  to  subdue 
so  much  of  the  earth.  When  Old  Tom  rings  the  same  curfew  that  has 
been  heard  continuously  by  successive  generations  of  Oxonians,  all 
are  expected  to  seek  the  kneeling  bench  in  their  respective  chapels. 
Frequent  visits  taught  me  that  religious  influences  are  self-perpetu- 
ating in  this  historic  and  sacred  spot. 

The  subject  of  religious  education  must  be  viewed  as  a  whole  in 
our  system.  Voluntary  aid  and  state  effort  might  be  united  without 
sacrifice  of  principle.  In  England  the  denomination  builds  the  school 
houses  and  the  government  inspects  them  in  regard  to  hygienic  and 
general  structural  conveniences.  The  teacher  presented  by  the  de- 
nomination is  examined  rigidly  and  usually  normal  school  training  is 
indispensable.  They  teach  in  these  schools  secular  knowledge  and  in 
these  the  child  is  examined  by  the  national  inspection  and  a  grant  is 
given  according  to  the  grades  and  efficiency  obtained.  The  denomi- 
nation uses  the  building  freely  outside  of  school  hours,  and  all  the 
children  of  the  district  belonging  to  the  denomination  are  allowed  to 
go  to  these  schools.  The  teacher  is  in  svmpathy  with  the  religious 
and  home  life  of  the  child  and  as  love  is  the  vital  influence  in  all  edu- 
cation it  is  dominant.  "We  can  teach  only  what  we  know  to  those 
who  know  and  love  us."  In  Ireland,  Scotland  and  Wales  they  have 
what  they  term  a  mixed  education.  There  is  in  no  case  an  effort  to 
exclude  religious  education  from  the  life  of  the  child  during  the  period 
of  its  secular  training.  In  all  that  we  know  of  either  prehistoric, 
pagan  or  christian  efforts  in  the  domain  of  intellectual  culture,  we 
cannot  say  that  an  organized  effort  was  ever  thought  of  to  exclude 
religion  from  budding  minds.  Various  education  bills  and  efforts 
had  their  difificulties  but  they  emphasized  unceasingly  the  yearnings 
of  the  soul  for  the  need  of  moral  and  mental  nourishment. 


(143) 


26 

William  Lowe  Bryan,  Ph.D.,  LL.D. 

President,  Indiana  University,  Bloomington,  Indiana 

I  should  Hke  at  the  outset  of  this  frank  conference  to  emphasize 
my  sense  of  the  extreme  difficulty  of  the  problem.  I  suppose  there 
has  been  no  greater  change  in  European  and  American  civilization 
within  the  past  five  hundred  years  than  the  change  from  the  estab- 
lished consensus  of  social  belief  which  existed  practically  everywhere 
among  our  ancestors  of  that  time,  to  the  present  comparative  chaos 
with  regard  to  many  of  the  most  fundamental  problems  and  interests 
of  life.  In  the  universities  of  Europe  five  hundred  years  ago,  one 
would  have  found  an  established  consensus  with  regard  to  physical 
science,  with  regard  to  morality,  and  with  regard  to  religion.  One 
would  have  found  this  vast  range  of  learning  taught  with  authority 
in  the  universities,  and  through  the  universities  to  the  people,  and  one 
would  have  found  that  this  consensus  was  enforced  wherever  it  was 
thought  necessary  by  the  state.  But  within  these  five  hundred  years, 
we  have  changed.  There  has  been  a  progress  toward  what  we  call 
liberty  in  regard  to  all  these  things.  Without  raising  the  question  as 
to  what  extent  it  was  true,  that  old  consensus  has  been  broken  up. 
The  old  views  with  regard  to  physical  science  have  been  largely  given 
up,  and  in  this  field  there  has  been  established  a  new  consensus.  It 
is  not  established  by  governments;  it  isnot  established  by  the  church; 
it  is  not  established  by  arbitrary  authority ;  it  is  not  established  in  its 
details;  it  is  open  to  constant  modification;  still,  we  have  to-day 
among  men  of  physical  science  one  of  the  most  remarkable  agreements 
that  we  find  anywhere  in  the  history  of  the  world. 

But  we  have  not  reached  a  corresponding  consensus  with  regard 
to  those  things  which  touch  human  life  and  human  conduct.  The 
common  people  still  maintain  the  old  religious  faith,  the  traditional 
faith  of  Christianity,  and  still  more  generally  the  traditional  views 
with  regard  to  morality,  but  the  universities  of  the  world  do  not  main- 
tain a  like  consensus  with  regard  either  to  theology  or  to  morality. 
The  proof  of  this  can  be  found  by  an  examination  of  the  writings  of  the 
professors  of  theologv  and  ethics  in  the  great  universities  of  Europe. 

We  are  just  as  far  from  having  among  the  university  men  of  Europe 
what  can  be  called  a  scientific  or  philosophic  consensus  with  regard  to 
morals,  as  we  are  from  having  there  a  consensus  in  regard  to  religion. 

We  confront  a  problem  of  extreme  difficulty.  I  have  no  final 
solution  to  suggest  for  it.  I  can  only  suggest  this,  that  the  men  and 
the  women  who  believe  in  religion  and  morality,  the  men  and  the 
women  who  believe  that  there  is  in  religion  and  morality  something 
which  is  central  to  ever3^thing  else,  must  regard  themselves  as  mission- 
aries. Admitting  the  difficulty  to  be  as  great  as  anyone  can  declare 
it  to  be,  they  must  hold  themselves  bound  to  stand  with  all  their 


(144) 


27 

might  for  the  truth  and  for  the  life  which  they  regard  as  most  essential. 

It  is  a  fact,  as  anyone  may  know  who  is  acquainted  with  the  life  in 
our  state  universities,  that  there  are  always  some  men  there,  however 
they  may  formulate  their  beliefs  with  regard  to  religion  or  morality, 
who  have  adopted  a  serious  attitude  toward  the  religious  and  moral 
life  and  who,  whatever  they  may  teach,  and  whether  they  say  anything 
publicly  and  formally  about  religion  or  not,  stand  by  their  spirit,  for 
the  truth  and  for  a  good  life.  As  matters  stand,  perhaps  this  is  the 
best  thing  that  is  possible  in  the  state  universities,  but  I  believe  we 
should  have  something  more ;  I  believe  that  the  churches  should  main- 
tain in  close  connection  with  the  state  universities  some  men  who  are 
in  a  peculiar  sense  religious  leaders. 

It  is  made  the  reproach  of  the  state  universities  that  very  few  of 
the  young  men  go  into  the  ministry  of  any  church.  That  is  partly  to 
be  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  some  of  the  young  men  who. might 
become  ministers  go  into  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  work, 
and  some  of  them  go  into  the  work  of  charities,  and  some  of  them 
become  teachers.  But  in  my  judgment,  the  reproach  is  not  ill 
founded.  There  ought  to  be  in  this  generation,  as  in  every  generation, 
a  due  proportion  of  the  very  best  of  the  young  men  who  should  become 
priests  in  the  highest  sense  of  the  word.  In  order  that  this  may  be  so, 
there  ought  to  be  in  close  connection  with  the  university  a  man  who 
represents  the  church  at  its  best. 

They  say  young  people  are  not  interested  in  religion.  That  is  not 
mv  experience.  My  experience  is  that  the  young  people  are  more  in- 
terested in  religion  than  in  anything  else.  And  one  such  man,  one  man 
fitted  to  be  a  bishop  of  souls,  in  one  of  these  universities  where  there 
are  thousands  of  young  men  gathered  together,  would  allure  many  a 
yoiing  man  into  the  life  that  belongs  to  him  and  to  the  life  that  it  is 
his  duty  to  follow. 

I  am  told  by  those  who  are  students  of  Christian  history,  that  in 
the  first  century  the  Christian  church  wen  to  the  great  capitals  of 
culture,  they  went  to  the  great  cities  of  the  Roman  Empire  and  es- 
tablished themselves  there,  and  presently  became  the  greatest  force 
within  the  empire — an  empire  within  an  empire — and  the  old  religion 
sank  away  into  the  villages.  If  the  religious  people  neglect  the  great 
capitals  of  culture,  at  Ann  Arbor,  and  Madison,  and  Minneapolis,  and 
Urbana,  where  thousands  of  young  men  have  come  up  to  study, 
they  will  do  precisely  the  opposite  thing  from  what  the  apostles  did  in 
the  first  century;  and  if  the  church  loses  the  battle  in  such  places,  it  will 
sink  away  into  a  second  paganism. 

Today  the  greatest  missionary  field  in  the  world,  and  the  field  which 
is  almost  unoccupied  by  the  churches,  is  the  field  which  is  offered  in 
the  great  American  state  universities. 


(145) 


28 

Jenkin  Lloyd  Jones  ' 
Pastor  of  All  Souls  Church,  Chicago,  and  Editor  of  Unity,  Chicago 

"  I  dip  my  pen  in  the  blackest  ink,  because  I  am  not  afraid  of  fall- 
ing into  my  ink  bottle, "  said  Emerson.  The  sainted  Frances  Willard 
once  introduced  me  to  a  good,  conservative  audience,  as  a  member  of 
the  W.  C.  T.  U.  She  said  the  "  W"  excluded  me,  the  "C"  was  doubt- 
ful, the  "T"  as  they  taught  it  was  sometimes  a  source  of  discontent  to 
me,  but  I  made  such  a  fuss  about  the  "  U  "  that  thev  had  concluded  to 
take  me  in  in  good  and  regular  standing. 

If  a  university  means  anything,  I  suppose,  etymologically  and  his- 
torically, it  is  because  of  its  great  emphasis  on  the  "  U.  "  It  borrows 
its  name  from  the  biggest  word  in  the  dictionary,  and  therein  lies  its 
inspiration. 

I  did  not  realize  that  the  subject  was  fraught  with  such  difficulties 
until  I  came  to  hear  these  discussions.  If  it  is  a  matter  of  analysis,  of 
definition,  indeed  the  case  is  desperate.  If  religion  is  a  thing  of  terms 
and  dogmas,  lines  and  traditions,  the  case  is  hopeless.  But  if  religion 
is  an  attitude  of  the  spirit,  a  tem.per  of  the  heart,  a  movement  of  the 
mind,  a  hospitality  of  the  soul,  then  the  university  stands  at  the  center 
of  the  hope  of  religion, — the  university  as  it  is, — and,  above  all  uni- 
versities, the  state  university  is  pre-eminently  so. 

And  so  I  cannot  take  with  much  conplacency  or  comfort  the  sug- 
gestion that  this  question  is  to  be  solved  by  surrounding  this  campus 
or  any  other  campus  with  a  cordon  of  denominational  houses,  each  of 
them  flying  its  sectarian  flag,  bringing  again,  whether  or  no,  the  com- 
petitive business  into  the  field  which  is  the  last  to  recognize  the  inspira- 
tions of  the  new  method  of  cooperation  and  of  combination. 

I  recognize  the  impossibility  that  the  university  should  touch  all 
the  circumference  of  religion  as  I  or  anybodv  else  understands  it,  but 
I  believe  it  is  a  possibility  for  the  universitv  to  touch  the  center  of 
religion,  if,  as  I  say,  religion  is  a  movement  and  not  an  attitude,  a 
temper,  a  hospitality.  Some  kind  of  Catholicism,  some  kind  of  an 
altogetherness,  some  kind  of  a  common  interest,  some  kind  of  a  con- 
fessed brotherhood,  is  the  very  foundation  of  culture,  the  end  and  aim 
of  study;  and  so  far  as  the  universities  represent  culture,  they  must 
represent  this  altogetherness  which  is  the  hope  of  religion. 

I  look  for  a  very  decided  rearrangement, — call  it  whatever  you 
like,  you  academic  people,  who  are  up  on  the  new  terms, — but  there 
is  coming  a  recodification,  surely,  more  rapidly  than  we  know,  of  the 
curriculum  of  the  university. 

The  pedagogical  ladder,  as  you  gray-headed  folks  will  remember 
with  me,  has  been  something  like  this:  In  the  '70's,  you  pedagogues 
were  demanding  more  English.  You  said,  "Give  the  boys  and  girls 
more  control  of  the  mother  tongue."     "English  to  the  front,"  was 


(146) 


29 

the  call,  and  in  that  respect  the  curricula  were  rearranged.  In  the 
'80's  the  demand  was.  "Teach  our  boys  and  girls  to  use  their  eyes  and 
ears;  give  them  a  new  idea  of  things."  "Science  to  the  front,"  was 
the  crv.  and  science  came  more  emphatically  to  the  front.  In  the 
'90's,  the  demand  was,  "Teach  our  pupils  to  use  their  hands,  give  them 
a  means  of  earning  their  living;  remember  that  trained  muscle  makes 
for  trained  brain."  Technical  knowledge,  "manual  training  to  the 
front,"  and  it  came  to  the  front.  In  this  first  decade  of  the  20th 
century,  the  last  word,  the  one  word  to  conjure  with  today  in  academic 
circles,  with  all  due  respect  to  those  of  you  whose  work  lies  in  other 
fields,  is  sociology.  "Teach  our  pupils  their  corporate  relations,  teach 
them  to  become  potent  factors  in  the  community."  And  that  is 
coming.  I  believe,  my  friends,  all  disputed  questions  laid  aside,  that 
we  are  coming  to  another  new  demand  in  the  second  decade  of  the 
20th  century,  or  if  not  so  soon,  then  in  the  third  or  fourth  or  some- 
time,— I  care  not  if  it  is  a  thousand  years  hence, — the  demand  will  be, 
"Make  men  and  women;  teach  character;  give  them  knowledge  of  the 
forces  that  make  for  excellence  and  for  goodness  and  tenderness  and 
svmpathy."  "Ethics  to  the  front!"  I  do  not  know  whether  this  is 
religion  or  not,  but  it  is  the  province  of  the  university  today,  a  province 
which  no  one  disputes,  from  the  Romanist  to  the  Agnostic.  All  of 
them  want  the  university  to  make  men  and  women.  There  may  be 
better  and  worse  ways,  but  certainly  some  of  the  ways,  some  of  the 
new  wavs  bv  which  we  can  impress  the  students  of  our  universities 
along  these  high  lines  is  the  better  reading  of  history,  the  rearrange- 
ment of  our  text  books,  placing  a  new  emphasis  on  the  story  of  the 
race,  for  history  up  to  this  day,  as  presented  to  our  boys  and  girls,  is 
too  much  a  story  of  generals  and  kings  and  capitalists,  and  material 
triumphs.  The  real  story  of  the  race  is  an  undiscovered  secret,  except 
to  one  who  studies  it  from  the  standpoint  of  the  prophet  or  the  bard, 
the  sage  or  the  reformer.  Away  above  the  ruins  of  Babylon  and 
Xinevah  of  those  da^'s  towers  the  story  of  Hammurabi,  and  away  back 
of  the  iniquitous  crime  of  Warren  Hastings  and  Clive,  begins  to  glow 
the  story  of  the  great  Prince  Buddha,  the  enlightened,  who  touches 
today,  perhaps  four  hundred  and  seventy-five  millions  of  human  be- 
ings. It  is  a  shame  and  a  disgrace  that  our  universities  should  send 
boys  and  girls  out  into  the  world  unconsicous  of  these  mighty  inspira- 
tions of  history.  And  this  is  quite  within  the  province, — I  am  staying 
out  of  disputed  territories,  if  you  please, — of  the  universities,  to  give 
the  history  from  the  standpoint  of  ethics,  of  spirit,  the  ideal  standards. 
Give  them  history  in  the  concrete,  if  you  please,  give  it  to  them  in  the 
great  conspicuous  illustrations;  let  them  know  Confucius  and  his 
power  over  the  mighty  millions  of  China, — this  is  the  academic  thing 
to  do.  Our  students  need  to  know  about  it  just  as  much  as  they  need 
to  know  the  traditions  of  the  horse, — all  about  the  three-toed,  two- 

(147j 


30 

toed  and  one-toed  horse  in  which  our  scientists,  and  1  with  them,  so 
much  deUght. 

The  man  who  reads  the  Odyssey  vitally  and  vividly  in  a  good 
translation  does  more  for  himself  and  for  his  children,  perhaps,  than 
if  he  had  learned  to  stumble  over  the  verbs  and  nominatives  of  it  in 
the  original.  We  need  not  only  English  literature,  but  literature  in 
the  English,  and  that  means  the  master  pieces  of  the  past  brought 
with  academic  precision  into  the  lives  of  our  children  from  the  gram- 
mar grades  up.  The  classic  stories  of  Greece  and  Rome  are  safe  in 
academic  circles,  because  they  are  our  so-called  "classics,"  but  the 
great  wealth  of  poetry  and  philosophy  that  lies  in  the  other  literatures 
of  the  world  must  be  brought  to  bear  upon  the  lives  of  our  boys  and 
girls  by  direct  and  inspired  instruction,  and  that  will  make  for  relig- 
ion. I  do  not  know  whether  this  is  religion  or  not.  I  do  not  care  just 
now.  I  want  things  that  will  shape  the  lives  of  our  boys  and  girls  and 
make  them  earnest  and  interested  and  enthusiastic. 

Another  thing  our  universities  can  do,  as  the  President  from  Indi- 
ana has  just  said,  they  can  teach  inspiringly  anyway.  Dismiss  every 
wooden-headed  teacher,  however  wise  he  may  be.  It  was  Channing 
who  said,  "  I  would  rather  have  my  children  taught  error  in  an  inspired 
way  by  men  who  have  the  courage  of  conviction  than  to  have  them 
taught  truth  listlessly  and  in  an  uninspired  way."  Give  us  more 
inspiration  in  our  chairs,  more  personality. 

When  I  visited  the  campus  of  Berkeley  a  few  years  ago,  the  whole 
place  was  pervaded  with  the  spirit  of  such  personality.  Two  names 
were  the  words  by  which  the  University  of  California  conjured  in  the 
interest  of  culture  and  nobility,  Professor  Le  Conte  and  Professor  E. 
R.  Sill.  Le  Conte  was  down  to  teach  geology,  but  the  Lord  had  ap- 
pointed him  to  teach  life  to  those  about  him.  His  students  took  their 
geology  incidentally,  but  they  took  their  inspiration  directly.  E.  R. 
Sill  in  his  short  life  there  of  only  three  or  four  years,  was  open-eyed 
toward  the  skies;  he  was  in  communion  with  the  stars;  his  heart 
throbbed  with  the  poetry  and  the  prophecy  of  life,  and  he  left  his  stamp' 
on  that  place. 

Twenty-five  or  thirty  years  ago,  we  Wisconsin  men  remember  how 
Wisconsin  University  had  a  President  who  was  not  very  much  of  a  suc- 
cess in  politics ;  he  was  a  failure  as  a  hustler ;  the  finances  did  not  go  well. 
But  John  Bascom  put  his  mark  on  the  boys  and  girls  as  a  steel  stamps 
the  soft  wax,  and  men  and  women  now  grown  talk  reverently  of  the 
man  who  was  President  of  Wisconsin  University  when  they  were  there. 
He  brought  the  soul  face  to  face  with  realities  by  the  power  of  his 
personality. 

And  then  again,  I  do  not  know,  my  brethren,  where  the  line  lies 
between  ethics  and  religion,  and  I  do  not  think  we  shall  be  troubled 
much  about  it  unless  we  undertake  to  survey  that  doubtful  line,  but 

(148) 


31 

you  will  all  agree  with  me  that  Matthew  Arnold  was  right  when  he 
said  that  three-fourths  of  life  was  conduct,  and  within  that  three- 
fourths  of  life  lies  the  common  ground  of  the  universities.  Mr. 
Chairman,  here  lies  the  undisputed  faith  of  inspiration.  When  we 
come  to  that  point  where  life,  character,  beauty,  gentleness,  are  worth 
more  on  the  campus  in  the  way  of  kindling  enthusiasm  than  the  brawn 
of  the  gridiron,  we  shall  be  getting  back  or  going  forward  to  the  in- 
spirations of  religion. 

When  we  find  today  professors  and  their  wives  and  the  Presidents 
of  the  universities  witnessing  gladiatorial  contests  with  their  thumbs 
turned  down  in  the  presence  of  any  brutality,  we  may  well  indeed 
tremble  for  the  fate  of  those  forces  that  deal  in  kindness,  gentleness 
and  submissiveness,  in  hope  and  prophecy,  which  to  me  are  so  nearly 
religion  that  I  am  not  going  to  waste  any  time  or  strength  in  trving 
to  find  something  finer  to  stand  for  religion. 


GEXERAL  DISCUSSION 

Right  Reverend  EDW^\RD  William  Osborne,  D.D. 
Bishop-Coadjutor  of  Springfield,  Springfield,  Illinois 

At  the  town  of  Carlisle,  Pa.,  there  is  a  school  for  Indians.  There 
are  a  thousand  Indians  there,  and  if  you  want  to  have  your  hearts 
melted  with  love  toward  the  Indian  and  inspired  with  hope  of  what 
may  be  done,  go  to  Carlisle.  I  spent  three  days  there  when  Colonel 
Pratt  was  at  the  head  of  the  school.  I  asked  him  about  religion  in 
that  state  institution.  His  answer  was  quite  simple,  methodical, 
business-like,  and  good.  When  an  Indian  goes  to  Carlisle,  he  is  ques- 
tioned, not  by  the  Christian  ^Association,  but  by  the  authorities,  by 
the  head  of  the  school,  as  to  what  he  is.  Christian  or  pagan.  If  he 
answers  "Christian, "  of  what  denomination  or  church.  He  is  written 
down  as  belonging  to  that  denomination.  His  name  is  sent  at  once 
to  the  pastor  of  that  denomination,  if  there  be  one  in  the  place;  if  not, 
to  the  one  w^hich  is  established  at  or  near  his  home,  and  the  pastor  is 
told  that  this  boy  or  girl  is  there.  On  Sunday  morning  all  the  Chris- 
tians belonging  to  a  particular  denomination  are  assembled  and  are 
marched  to  their  respective  places  of  worship.  In  the  afternoon,  the 
minister  of  any  denomination  may  come,  if  he  pleases,  in  his  own  per- 
son or  by  accredited  teachers,  and  give  religious  instructions  in  one  of 
the  rooms  of  the  institution  to  the  boys  and  girls  belonging  to  his  own 
denomination.  Further,  one  day  in  the  week  is  also  set  apart  on 
which  he,  personally  or  by  accredited  representatives,  may  give  relig- 
ious instruction  to  those  same  people  as  a  part  of  their  regular  educa- 
tion. It  costs  nothing  to  the  state.  It  is  a  recognition  of  religion. 
The  Roman  Catholic  priest  himself  comes  at  times;  at  other  times,  he 
sends  sisters  who  are  qualified  to  teach  the  women  and  the  girls.     And 

(149) 


32 

the  other  religious  societies  in  the  town  do  the  same,  and  the  priest  of 
our  own  church  carries  on  his  work.  I  know  of  no  objection  to  it 
there,  and  I  see  no  reason  why  there  should  be  anywhere. 

Here  is  a  solution, — and  it  costs  nothing, — not  a  perfect  solution, 
not  the  final  one,  but  a  beginning,  a  possible  one,  and  one  that  will 
lead  on  and  show  what  else  ma}^  be  done,  and  one  that  will,  I  have  no 
doubt,  develop  the  need  of  further  work  in  the  way  of  religious  instruc- 
tion. It  may  bring  together  in  the  community  some  that  are  sepa- 
rated. It  will  provide  at  least  that  every  student  in  the  university 
shall  have  an  opportunity  for  religious  teaching  brought  before  him 
without  any  violation  of  conscience,  without  any  repression  of  his 
liberty,  and,  I  believe,  without  any  breaking  of  any  righteous  state 
law.  Let  every  representative  of  every  religious  society  that  is 
represented  among  the  students  of  the  university  found  upon  count, 
have  the  right  to  go  to  the  president  and  say,  "We  have  so  many 
students  here" — be  it  only  ten  or  six  hundred — "Give  us  a  room  in 
the  university  buildings  where  we  can  gather  our  people  together  on 
Sunday  for  religious  worship  and  for  religious  teaching.  Further,  give 
us  a  room  where  we  may  gather  those  same  students  on  a  week  day  night 
or  a  week  day  afternoon,  where  we  shall  not  interfere  with  your  work,  that 
we  may  carry  out  the  teaching  in  further  detail.  "  Now,  I  believe  if  the 
representatives  of  religions  were  to  come  to  the  president  of  this  uni- 
versity and  ask  that,  it  might  be  done.  It  is  possible  he  would  say, 
"I  haven't  the  power."  And  then  let  us  say  to  him,  "Go  down  to 
Springfield  and  get  the  power,  and  if  you  go  to  Springfield  and  ask  the 
power,  you  will  find  that  we  will  always  stand  behind  you."  With 
the  religious  forces  of  this  state  standing  by  the  president,  I  believe 
the  legislature  at  Springfield  would  give  us  the  opportunity  of  using 
the  buildings  at  such  times  as  they  are  standing  empty  to  lead  souls 
upward  and  train  them  to  live  for  the  glory  of  God. 


Miss  Lilian  Wyckoff  Johnson,  Ph.D.^ 
President,  Western  College  for  Women,  Oxford,  Ohio 

As  president  of  a  college  for  women  I  would  have  a  great  deal  of 
hestiation  in  taking  part  in  a  discussion  upon  religious  education  in 
state  universities  and  colleges,  if  it  were  not  that  in  the  state  of  Ohio 
our  state  universities  are  all  co-educational  and  therefore  have  a  large 
body  of  women  enrolled  and  also  if  it  were  not  for  a  somewhat  un- 
usually wide  academic  experience — for  I  was  a  student  at  Wellesley, 
Universitv  of  Michigan  and  Cornell,  and  a  teacher  at  Vassar,  Univer- 
sity of  Tennessee  and  am  now  at  the  Western  College  for  Women.  I 
have  therefore  known  intimatelv  three  state  universities :  Michigan  in 
the  Central  West,  Cornell  in  the  East,  and  University  of  Tennessee  in 
the  South.     For  the  women's  colleges,  such  as  Vassar,  Wellesley  and 

(150) 


33 

The  Western,  the  question  of  rehgious  education  is  in  a  large  measure 
solved.  The  problem  therefore  concerns  especially  our  large  co- 
educational universities,  and  toward  the  solution  of  this  problem  I 
should  like  to  make  two  suggestions. 

The  solution  of  the  problem  of  social  training  as  it  has  .been  begun 
here  by  the  building  of  the  Woman's  Hall  has  interested  me  greatly. 
It  seems  another  proof  that  we  are  realizing  more  and  more  that  edu- 
cation does  not  mean  training  along  intellectual  lines  alone  but  rather 
the  all-round  development  of  the  student,  that  is,  along  spiritual, 
intellectual,  physical,  social  and  practical  lines.  For  a  long  time,  the 
physical  was  absolutely  neglected,  but  to-day  what  college  campus  do 
you  enter  which  has  not  its  well-equipped  gymnasium?  If  we  recog- 
nize that  there  should  be  a  spiritual  phase  of  training  and  education, 
why  not  give  to  the  spiritual  its  house,  as  we  have  done  with  the  physi- 
cal? Why  should  not  every  college  campus  have  a  chapel?  But 
there  arises  the  question  of  denomination;  however,  in  Europe  you 
will  find  churches  with  a  Roman  Catholic  altar  at  one  end  and  a 
Protestant  pulpit  at  the  other.  Cannot  we  have  upon  every  college 
campus  a  chapel  which  can  be  entirely  undenominational?  And  I 
would  have  that  chapel  open  for  the  same  hours  that  the  gvmnasium 
and  the  library  are  open.  All  honor  to  the  Roman  Catholic  Chruch, 
which  has  not  only  spent  so  much  money  on  its  beautiful  architecture 
but  has  added  the  amount  necessary  to  keep  custodians  in  its  houses 
of  worship  constantly,  in  order  that  they  may  be  always  open.  Shame 
to  us  Protestants  that  we  spend  what  we  do  on  our  buildings  and  then 
close  the  doors  except  for  a  few  hours  on  the  Sabbath!  The  college 
chapel  should  be  open  from  early  morning  until  late  evening.  I  would 
have  small  reading  rooms  where  there  should  be  a  religious  library 
and  religious  papers.  I  would  have  a  conference  room  where  the 
pastors  of  the  churches  could  come  at  stated  times  for  conferences 
with  the  students.  I  would  have  religious  exercises  conducted  by 
men  of  different  denominations  from  the  city  itself  and  bv  those  who 
would  come  from  a  distance  for  that  purpose.  Let  our  students  see 
that  we  have  the  same  reverence  for  religious  training  that  we  have 
for  the  physical  by  putting  upon  our  campus  the  most  beautiful  house 
that  we  can  secure  and  leaving  it  open  for  them  to  come  there  and 
worship,  alone  if  they  will,  or  enter  into  the  conferences  if  they  desire 
or  listen  to  religious  services  by  the  best  thinkers  that  we  can  get  for 
them. 

My  second  suggestion  is  this:  a  state  university  does  not  house  its 
students,  and  one  of  the  greatest  problems  is  the  lack  of  home  life. 
Why  do  we  not  take  care  that  our  students  shall  have  religious  homes 
in  the  cities  where  they  are  housed  ?  Do  we  not  know  worthy  Christian 
women  who  would  be  glad  to  come  to  Urbana  or  to  other  college  towns, 
for  the  purpose  of  establishing  homes  where  groups  of  a  dozen  or  more 

(151) 


34 

boys  or  girls  could  have  a  home,  surrounded  by  the  best  religious  and 
social  influence.  The  housing  of  the  students  is  one  of  the  great 
problems  in  our  state  universities  to-day.  If  we  can  get  noble  men 
and  women  to  come  and  live  in  these  places,  to  sit  at  the  table  three 
times  a  day  with  ten  or  more  of  our  students  would  not  this  help  to 
solve  the  problem?  The  Mohammedan  religion  is  in  a  book,  but  the 
Christian  religion  is  the  life,  and  the  young  people  will  never  get 
religion  out  of  a  book  in  our  state  universities ;  they  must  get  it  from 
contact  with  noble  lives,  and  that  influence  should  be  in  the  home  as 
well  as  in  the  chapel. 


Mrs.  Anna  Sneed  Cairns 
President,  Forest  Park  University,  St.  Louis,  Missouri 

I  have  felt  that  if  when  this  proposition  is  closely  stated,  the 
■university  which,  by  its  name,  turns  itself  around  the  whole  circle  of 
human  knowledge,  is  never  to  look  or  touch  upon  the  greatest  of  all 
themes,  the  relation  of  the  soul  to  eternity,  to  God,  to  the  endless  ages, 
and  the  relation  of  that  soul  to  its  brother  soul,  in  the  time  that  it  has 
here  on  earth,  that  it  has  omitted  the  greatest  of  all  subjects.  To 
state  such  a  proposition  is  to  refute  it.  I  have  felt  this  in  practical 
teaching,  having  been  a  teacher  now  for  almost  forty-five  years.  I 
have  felt  that  the  greatest  thing  that  we  could  bring  to  bear  upon  any 
man  or  woman,  any  boy  or  girl,  committed  to  our  charge,  was  this 
great  subject,  the  relation  of  the  soul  to  its  God,  the  relation  of  each 
soul  to  its  brother  soul.  And  the  university  that  deliberately  says 
that  we  cannot  touch  this  cuts  itself  off  from  the  greatest  and  highest 
knowledge  in  this  world. 

In  this  discussion  much  valuable  information  has  been  given  us  in 
regard  to  the  constitutions  and  statutes  of  the  different  states  and  we 
have  been  shown  how  in  the  separation  between  church  and  state  it  is 
impossible  to  have  any  religion  or  morality  taught  in  our  schools. 
Surely  the  wish  is  father  to  the  thought.  Is  there  not  a  confusion  of 
thought  here,  confusing  ecclesiastical  organization  with  religion? 
Have  we  no  Chaplain  in  our  Senate?  No  Chaplain  in  the  House  of 
Representatives?  No  Chaplains  in  our  different  State  Legislatures? 
No  Chaplains  in  our  Prisons?  No  Chaplains  in  the  regiments  of  our 
army?  Does  not  our  President  appeal  to  Almighty  God,  to  help  him 
discharge  the  duties  of  his  great  office  ?  Does  not  the  solemn  oath  that 
is  taken  in  every  court  of  justice  show  that  the  state  must  lean  upon 
Almighty  God  in  the  highest  of  its  functions,  justice  between  man  and 
man? 

People  have  accustomed  themselves  to  look  at  statutes  as  if  they 
were  things  that  could  not  in  any  way  be  changed,  like  the  everlasting 
hills  that  cannot  be  removed  forever.     But  we  were  told  yesterday 

(152) 


35 

that  our  Legislatures  are  the  graveyards  of  statutes.  And  I  have  felt 
that  when  a  Christian  community  grasps  this  thing,  that  when  the 
American  people  grasp  this  question,  they  will  find  a  way  to  overcome 
this  difficulty  in  constitutions  and  statutes.  Those  technical  things 
that  are  brought  up  seem  so  superficial  when  we  look  at  them.  To 
push  the  thing  so  greatly  that  any  house  in  which  religion  is  taught  for 
a  few  minutes  becomes  a  house  of  worship  supported  by  the  State,  is 
pushing  matters  to  an  extreme.  And  there  has  been  a  reaction  in 
America,  a  very  decided  reaction,  and  public  sentiment,  the  feeling  of 
the  fathers  and  mothers  for  their  boys  and  girls,  has  come  to  take  a 
very  firm  stand.  What  we  need  to  consider  is,  how  this  can  be  done, 
and  I  am  so  glad  of  this  religious  conference,  and  I  hope  that  something 
practical  will  grow  out  of  it,  and  that  fear  of  statutes  will  die  away. 
A  statute  is  simply  the  will  of  that  Legislature  expressed,  and  the  will 
of  the  next  Legislature  is  frequently  very  different.  I  know  this,  for 
I  was  Legislative  and  Legal  Superintendent  of  the  Women's  Christian 
Temperance  Union  in  the  State  of  Missouri  for  seven  years  and  at- 
tended the  Legislature  steadily,  and  discovered  that  the  dreaded 
Legislator  was  but  a  "mere  man,"  and  as  soon  as  he  knew  what  was 
the  actual  will  of  the  people,  and  that  the  people  meant  to  have  their 
will,  even  if  it  involved  dispensing  with  his  own  services,  he  usually 
found  a  way  to  come  over  on  the  people's  side. 

I  want  to  say  one  other  word,  I  have  never  found  anywhere  that 
anybody  objected  to  our  teaching  everything  about  Buddha  and  Con- 
fucius. That  is  all  right.  But  the  instant  that  you  lay  before  the 
heart  and  mind  of  your  students  the  life  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the 
greatest  Jew  that  ever  the  Jewish  race  produced;  the  greatest  political 
and  civic  authority,  who  solved  every  problem  in  Sociology  with  the 
Golden  Rule,  nineteen  centuries  before  there  was  any  sociology;  the 
greatest  Philosopher,  before  whom  Socrates  pales,  and  Shakespeare 
grows  dim;  the  greatest  man  that  humanity  ever  produced;  yea,  the 
Divine  Man,  that  instant  there  are  many  to  say  "Stop!  this  is  sectar- 
ianism." 


W.  J.  Bergin,  C.S.V.,  A.M. 

Pastor,  St.  Viateur's  College,  Bourbonnais,  Illinois 

To  me,  it  is  a  great  surprise  and  a  great  pleasure  to  find  this  con- 
ference unanimous  on  the  proposition  that  religious  training  cannot 
be  divorced  from  secular  instruction;  that  if  we  hope  to  attain  the 
highest  results  in  our  educational  efforts,  we  must  introduce  into  our 
school  curriculum,  into  our  universities  even,  a  religious  education. 

Now,  whilst  I  accept  this  position  heartily  and  completely,  I  do 
not  believe  that  the  question  of  religious  education  is  yet  a  university 
question.     I  accept  the  definition  of  a  university  given  yesterday  by 

(153) 


36 

Dr.  James  in  his  admirable  address.  It  is  not  a  place  where  mere  boys 
and  girls  are  to  be  educated;  it  is  not  a  place  where  the  rudiments  of 
knowledge  are  to  be  imparted;  it  is  not  a  place  where  education  is 
begun.  It  is  and  it  should  be  a  place  where  education  is  completed. 
If  this  principle  must  be  admitted  when  applied  to  secular  training, 
then  we  must  accept  the  logic  of  our  position  and  maintain  the  same 
principle  for  moral  and  religious  education. 

Consequently  this  problem  is  further  back  than  the  university.  It 
is  not  sufficiently  advanced  as  yet  to  be  a  university  problem.  I  do 
not  mean  to  say  it  may  not  become  a  question  with  which  the  uni- 
versity will  find  it  necessary  to  deal,  but  it  is  not  so  at  present.  It  is 
still  a  problem  for  the  elementary  school  which  we  have  not  even  at- 
tempted to  solve.  What  would  you  think  of  the  man  who  should 
begin  to  debate  university  education  before  he,  had  made  the  slightest 
provision  for  primary  training?  You  cannot  begin  with  the  roof,  you 
must  begin  with  the  foundation.  The  elementary  school  is  the  foun- 
dation of  the  university,  and,  just  as  in  the  matter  of  secular  training 
the  university  rests  upon  the  primary  school,  presupposes  it,  and  can- 
not exist  without  it,  so  also  in  religious  and  moral  training,  the  uni- 
versity presupposes  and  must  rest  upon  the  primary  school.  Take 
this  away  and  it  is  idle  to  talk  about  what  you  may  do,  can  do,  or 
ought  to  do,  in  the  university.  Since,  then,  it  is  the  unanimous  opinion 
of  this  conference  that  it  is  necessary  to  introduce  religious  teaching 
into  our  universities,  we  must  first  of  all  introduce  religious  instruction 
into  our  primary  schools,  into  our  grammar  schools  and  colleges. 
Then  we  shall  have  a  solid  foundation  upon  which  we  can  base  the 
highest  religious  teaching  in  our  universities.  Everv  speaker,  who 
has  addressed  this  conference,  has  expressed  the  conviction  that 
religious  truth  is  the  highest,  the  most  inspiring  element  that  can  be 
brought  to  bear  upon  human  life.  Shall  we  deny  our  children  what 
we  are  so  eager  to  secure  for  the  young  men  and  young  women  at  our 
universities?  Having  admitted  that  religion  is  the  most  powerful 
factor  in  the  development  of  pure,  noble  character,  in  the  forpiation  of 
the  best  type  of  citizenship,  would  it  not  be  criminal  to  deprive  our 
children  of  what  is  so  essential  to  their  well-being?  If  primary, 
secular  education  were  wholly  neglected,  we  would  readily  acknowl- 
edge that  the  very  life  of  the  university  was  threatened.  Shall  we  be 
less  solicitous  for  religious  training  in  the  elementary  schools  ?  Shall 
we  not  acknowledge  with  equal  frankness  that  it  is  impossible  to  carry 
on  the  work  of  education,  in  any  sphere,  in  the  university,  unless  the 
foundation  is  laid  in  the  earlier  periods  of  educational  work?  If 
religion  be  the  powerful  influence  for  good  which  we  have  acknowl- 
edged it  to  be,  would  it  not  be  self  stultification  not  to  admit  its  ne- 
cessity in  every  school  and  college  as  well  as  in  the  university?  We 
should  be  like  the  man  willing  enough  to  say  two  and  two,  but  refusing 

(154) 


37 

to  draw  the  conclusion  as  four.  We  have  admitted  without  a  dis- 
senting voice,  that  reUgion  is  the  most  beneficent,  the  most  upHfting, 
the  most  ennobhng  influence  which  can  be  brought  to  bear  upon 
human  hfe.  How,  then,  can  we  hesitate  to  admit  its  necessity  for  the 
voung  bovs  and  girls,  the  voung  men  and  women,  who  are  attending 
our  grammar  schools,  our  high  schools  and  colleges.  In  all  our  other 
educational  eft'orts  we  build  from  the  lower  schools  upward.  Why 
reverse  the  process  in  religious  teaching  which  we  confess  is  the  most 
important  of  all?  Therefore.  I  say  we  are  approaching  this  question 
from  the  wrong  standpoint,  we  must  begin  with  the  elementary  schools. 


Edward  Octavius  Sisson,  Ph.D. 
Professor  in  the  University  of  Illinois 

I  want  to  speak  of  three  points  which  seem  to  me  to  bear  upon  the 
clear  comprehension  of  the  question  in  hand.  The  first  is  the  very 
point  on  which  the  last  speaker  congratulated  us,  which  at  first  sight 
certainly  seems  a  matter  of  congratulation,  but  to  me  seems  almost 
the  only  criticism  which  can  be  passed  on  this  gathering  and  other 
gatherings  of  the  same  sort,  namely  that  everybody  here  believes  in 
religious  education.  Now,  it  seems  to  me  there  are  two  voices  we 
should  have  here,  at  least,  in  addition  to  those  we  have.  Those  are 
the  voices  of  the  Jew  and  of  the  Agnostic, — the  voice  of  the  man  who 
is  against  the  doctrines  that  we  call  technically  Christian,  and  the 
voice  of  the  man  who  is  against  any  religious  instruction  whatever, — 
if  we  can  find  such  a  man.  We  must  take  account  of  these  men.  It 
is  useless  for  us  to  go  on  and  make  plans  for  religious  instruction  with- 
out taking  into  consideration  these  important  factors  in  our  com- 
munities. 

In  the  second  place,  reference  was  made  to  the  religious  instruction 
in  England,  in  a  way  which  seemed  to  imply  that  the  English  situation 
was  solved.  I  have  had  occasion  in  the  last  two  or  three  years  to  give 
very  close  attention  to  the  religious  instruction  in  several  European 
countries,  particularly  in  England,  and  the  situation  there  is  far  from 
solved.  The  fact  is  rather  that  the  question  of  religious  instruction 
is  now  blocking  the  whole  progress  of  the  fortunate  English  situation 
as  to  education.  England  is  striving  almost  in  death  throes  for  a 
systeyn  of  public  education,  and  can't  get  it,  because  of  this  tremendous 
question  of  religious  instruction. 

In  Germany  each  child  has  religious  instruction.  I  went  there 
strongly  biased  in  favor  of  religious  instruction,  and  I  came  away,  I 
must  say  this  briefly — with  a  strong  feeling  that  rather  than  have  such 
religious  instruction  as  Germany  has,  it  would  be  better  for  us  to  go  on 
as  we  are;  and  manv  Germans,  both  in  this  country  and  in  Germany, 
hold  the  same  opinion.     The  prevailing  sentiment  in  Germany  may 

(155) 


38 

be  summed  up  thus:  The  Germans  are  almost  unanimously  in  favor 
of  religious  instruction,  and  almost  unanimous  in  the  belief  that  their 
present  system  is  wrong  and  in  need  of  the  most  radical  reform. 

So  let  us  not  feel  that  our  situation  is  peculiar,  for  the  whole  world 
is  wrestling  with  the  problem.  The  question  of  religious  instruction 
in  state  systems  of  education  is  one  of  the  great  problems  of  the  pres- 
ent day. 

Now  the  last  point  I  want  to  make  is  this:  I  understood  one 
speaker  to  imply,  at  least,  that  there  was  not  any  greater  consensus 
as  to  morality  than  as  to  religion.  It  seems  to  me  that  if  we  look  over 
the  world  we  shall  find  that  there  is  a  vast  amount  of  consensus  as  to 
morality.  We  can  hardly  find  a  single  distinctly  religious  fact  which 
will  meet  every  one's  approval;  but  how  many  moral  ideas,  how  many 
of  our  laws,  how  many  of  our  conventions  have  the  acceptance  of  the 
great  majority  of  all  civilized  people.  How  many  men  would  deny 
that  greatest  principle  of  morality,  the  most  advanced,  that  we  should 
love  our  fellow  men  ?  On  the  other  hand  how  can  we  possibly  state  a 
single  distinctly  religious  principle  or  faith  from  which  large  numbers 
would  not  dissent?  I  say  this  because  it  seems  to  me  that  we  must 
solve  the  problem  in  hand  just  by  beginning  on  the  common  ground 
of  morality.  It  is  unfortunate  the  word  morality  has  somehow  got  a 
bad  name;  let  us  say,  if  you  please,  begin  with  character,  begin  with 
life,  begin  with  conduct,  and  build  up  and  up,  always  striving  for  a 
greater  consensus  and  rising  toward  the  more  spiritual,  and  so  taking 
with  us  as  far  as  possible  not  only  those  who  are  represented  here 
to-day,  Protestant  and  Catholic,  but  also,  as  we  must,  our  Jewish 
fellow  citizen  and  our  fellow  citizens  who  for  various  reasons,  some 
good  and  some  bad,  hold  themselves  aloof  from  all  religious  beliefs. 
In  any  case  all  the  work  in  state  supported  institutions  must  be  con- 
fined to  what  commands  practically  universal  assent  in  the  community 
concerned. 


President  Bryan 

I  wish  to  say  with  reference  to  what  the  last  speaker  said,  that  I 
was  misunderstood.  The  people  do  retain  a  traditional  consensus. 
What  I  said  was  that  the  professors  of  ethics  do  not.  My  judgment  is 
that  in  the  long  run  the  people  will  stand,  or  fall,  together. 


(156) 


39 
THE  STATE  UNIVERSITIES  AND  THE  CHURCHES 

Francis  Willey  Kelsey,  Ph.D.     ' 
Professor  in  the  University  of  Michigan 

Ladies  and  gentlemen :  When  I  received  the  very  courteous  invi- 
tation of  the  committee  to  present  a  paper  on  this  occasion,  I  accepted 
it  gladly  for  two  reason.  The  first  is  that  during  the  past  fifteen  years 
a  group  of  men  at  the  University  of  Michigan  have  been  at  work  upon 
the  problem  of  the  relation  of  the  churches  to  the  state  universities, 
studying  it  in  its  different  phases  and  experimenting  with  different 
methods  of  solution  as  opportunity  and  means  made  experimentation 
possible ;  and  this  conference  seemed  to  present  a  favorable  opportun- 
ity to  make  ourselves  familiar  with  similar  work  carried  on  in  connec- 
tion with  other  universities.  The  second  reason  is  that  as  a  result  of 
our  study  and  experience  several  of  us  have  come  to  hold  rather 
definite  views,  which  we  should  like  to  submit  to  the  consideration 
and  criticism  of  those  who  have  been  working  upon  the  problem  in  a 
different  environment. 

I  felt  that  one  coming  from  so  far  should  not  venture  to  present  an 
address  on  so  serious  a  subject  without  carefully  writing  out  what  he 
had  to  say.  I  essayed  the  task,  and  thought  that  in  speaking  of  the 
state  universities  and  the  churches,  I  should  endeavor,  first  of  all,  to 
formulate  a  general  statement  of  the  facts.  As  was  pointed  out  this 
morning,  we  are  confronted  not  with  a  theory  but  with  a  condition, 
and  the  first  prerequisite  of  the  solution  of  every  such  problem  is  an 
inquiry  so  far  as  possible  dispassionate  and  comprehensive,  into  the 
facts  of  the  situation  for  which  the  remedy  is  desired.  When  I  came  to 
put  my  data  on  paper,  I  confess  that  I  was  overwhelmed  by  the  num- 
ber of  facts  and  considerations  which  in  the  past  few  years  have  come 
to  the  surface  and  which  have  a  direct  bearing  on  our  subject;  I  found 
that  in  the  time  alloted  it  would  be  impossible  to  present  the  outline 
I  had  worked  out.  Throwing  my  manuscript  aside,  therefore,  I  ask 
your  indulgence  if  I  speak  in  the  most  informal  manner  upon  one  of 
the  five  main  divisions  into  which  the  subject  seems  to  fall,  the  present 
divorce  between  advanced  theological  and  advanced  secular  education. 

My  ideal  of  a  university  is  not  unlike  that  so  felicitously  set 
forth  this  morning  by  Dean  Duffy.  A  university  which  aims  to 
represent,  with  more  or  less  completeness,  almost  every  field  of 
human  knowledge,  and  omits  from  the  curriculum  any  recognition 
of  that  which  is  after  all  the  background  of  all  knowledge,  must  be 
considered  incomplete.  The  uncompromising  severance  of  religious 
from  secular  education  is  an  experiment  of  the  past  few  generations. 
The  results,  however,  are  already  easilv  discernible,  and  without  dwell- 
ing on  the  historical  aspects  of  the  case,  we  may  ask  ourselves  frankly, 
what  are  the  consequences,  for  the  university  and  for  the  church,  of 

(157) 


40 

the  complete  separation  of  the  advanced  secular  training  from  the 
advanced  religious  training,  which  we  find  in  the  state  universities. 

First  we  may  consider  the  effect  upon  religious  education.  In  this 
country  the  experiment  has  been  tried,  upon  a  large  scale,  of  cutting 
off  instruction  in  theology  from  association  with  instruction  in  sister 
sciences.  In  only  a  few  instances  is  the  theological  faculty  closely 
associated  with  faculties  of  law,  medicine,  and  other  departments  of 
knowledge  included  in  the  university  sisterhood.  There  are  many 
consequences,  but  three  may  easily  be  apprehended  and  concisely 
stated. 

It  will  be  conceded,  at  the  outset,  that  the  lack  of  contact  between 
the  theological  faculty  and  the  other  faculties  of  advanced  learning, 
has  had  upon  the  former  a  narrowing  effect.  We  hear  much  com- 
plaint of  a  lack  of  adjustment  between  pulpit  and  pew.  It  is  not  for 
the  layman  at  this  point  to  enter  the  field  of  the  theological  expert  and 
point  out  the  grounds  of  criticism  in  detail.  We  can  all  see,  however, 
that  if  the  theological  faculties  of  the  country  were  put  side  by  side 
with  the  faculties  of  other  departments  of  advanced  learning,  the 
stimulus  of  the  contact  would  render  their  work  both  of  research  and 
of  instruction  broader,  more  profound,  and  far  better  adapted  to  the 
multifarious  needs  of  our  American  life. 

But,  in  the  second  place,  our  theological  schools  as  a  whole  are 
suffering  from  a  lack  of  facilities.  This  is  a  matter  of  common 
knowledge,  but  to  illustrate  at  how  great  disadvantage  the  majority 
of  them  are  placed  in  this  respect  it  is  only  necessary  to  turn  to  the 
report  of  Commissioner  Harris  of  the  Bureau  of  Education  for  the 
year  1903;  there  we  read  that  according  to  the  statistics  furnished  by 
the  schools  themselves,  of  153  theological  seminaries  listed  in  that 
year  thirty -five  had  less  than  5,000  volumes  in  their  libraries,  and 
eight  more  gave  the  number  as  5,000.  In  some  cases,  undoubtedly 
students  of  these  theological  schools  have  access  to  libraries  outside 
the  institutions;  but  it  must  be  remembered  that  in  the  case  of  the 
branches  pursued  in  the  theological  seminary,  the  condition  is  alto- 
gether different  from  that  of  sciences  of  recent  development,  which 
have  a  literature  more  restricted  in  range  and  relatively  small  in 
quantity.  The  studies  pursued  by  the  student  of  theology  have  ram- 
ifications running  out  in  every  direction,  and  theological  instruc- 
tion which  shall  unflinchingly  face  the  problems  of  the  present  day 
and  adjust  itself  to  modem  thought,  cannot  be  given  without  a  large 
working  library  for  faculty  and  students.  Of  these  153  seminaries, 
only  sev6nty-two  are  recorded  as  reporting  more  than  5,000  volumes 
in  their  libraries.  Sweeping  statements  generally  need  to  be  modified, 
and  a  just  view  would  require  a  closer  analysis  of  the  figures  than  is 
here  possible;  but  enough  has  been  said  to  indicate  how  lack  of  re- 
sources must  narrow  and  cramp  the  instruction  of  the  theological 

(158) 


41 

faculty  which  without  ample  equipment  of  its  own  is  endeavoring  to 
do  its  work  in  isolation,  apart  from  university  libraries  and  that 
stimulus  which  comes  from  association  with  other  faculties. 

Again,  the  narrowing  effect  of  isolation  upon  the  theological  stu- 
dent deserves  to  be  noted.  The  student  of  theology  in  an  isolated 
school  meets  in  dormitorv  and  class-room  only  men  working  in  his 
own  field;  and  though  perhaps  endeavoring  to  make  practical  appli- 
cation of  that  which  he  has  learned,  and  conscientiously  pursuing  his 
lines  of  work,  he  is  excluded,  for  the  three  years  of  his  professional 
training,  from  a  university  atmosphere.  During  those  years  of  vital 
importance  to  his  life  work  he  is  cut  off  from  that  broadening  of  the 
intellectual  horizon,  that  expansion  of  sympathy  and  quickening  of 
mental  powers,  which  comes  from  the  mingling  of  students  of  different 
professions  together  in  their  daily  tasks  and  recreations,  a  phase  of 
university  education  not  least  in  importance  among  the  formative 
influences  that  shape  men  for  the  largest  service. 

But  if  such  are  the  consequences  for  the  theological  school  severed 
from  its  normal  relations,  what,  we  may  next  inquire,  is  the  effect 
upon  the  state  university  cut  off  from  all  contact  with'the  faculty  that 
represents  the  first  among  the  professions  in  its  molding  influence  upon 
the  ideals  of  society  ? 

The  first  consequence  to  be  noted  is  the  lack  of  the  steadying  in- 
fluence of  the  theological  faculty  upon  other  faculties.  Grant  the 
establishment  upon  the  campus  or  near  the  campus  of  any  university, 
under  whatsoever  name  or  auspices,  a  body  of  godly  scholars  whose 
whole  thought  is  centered,  as  their  special  interest,  upon  the  interpre- 
tation of  the  things  of  the  spirit:  their  influence  on  the  university,  if 
not  paramount  in  giving  direction  and  emphasis  to  the  spiritual  ele- 
ment in  all  its  work,  will  at  least  be  sane,  healthful,  and  uplifting. 

A  second  result  for  the  university  is  a  lack  of  such  influence  on  the 
student  body.  Those  who  are  familiar  with  the  inner  life  of  the  state 
universities  will  agree  that  from  the  religious  point  of  view  the  danger 
at  the  present  time  is  not  that  these  institutions  will  become  centers 
of  propagandism  against  religion,  nor  that  they  will  even  become 
intentionally  non-religious.  How  can  such  results  be  looked  for 
when  the  faculties  of  the  state  universities  and  the  non-state 
universities  and  colleges  are  recruited  from  the  same  body  of  men, 
trained  in  the  same  institutions ;  and  when  the  percentage  of  church 
members  and  adherents  among  the  students  in  state  universi- 
ties is  practically  the  same  as  that  in  the  large  non-state  institu- 
tions which  draw  their  students  from  the  same  constituency?  A 
small  denominational  institution  will  naturally  have  a  large  percentage 
of  students  representing  the  church  which  supports  it;  but  according 
to  a  religious  census  taken  a  few  years  ago,  the  percentage  of  church 
members  and  adherents  was  about  the  same,  for  example,  in  the  Uni- 

(159) 


42 

versity  of  Michigan  as  in  Princeton  University.  In  matters  of  this 
kind  size  must  be  taken  into  account  in  dealing  with  statistics.  The 
real  danger  in  the  real  large  universities,  as  in  all  universities  where 
there  is  an  intense  intellectual  atmosphere,  lies  in  the  tendency  to 
"atrophy"  of  the  spiritual  nature.  Minds  become  so  absorbed  with 
the  details  in'  a  particular  field  of  investigation  or  study  that  the 
things  of  the  spirit  are  lost  sight  of.  Thus  in  the  three,  five  or  seven 
years  of  close  devotion  to  lines  of  work  that  do  not  come  directly  into 
contact  with  vital  religion,  perspective  is  often  lost,  and  men  begin  to 
lose  their  hold  upon  the  verities  that  form  the  solid  foundation  of  the 
true  life. 

The  third  consequence  for  the  state  university  is  that  this  separa- 
tion is  contributing  in  no  small  degree  to  the  decline  in  the  number  of 
candidates  for  the  ministry.  According  to  the  report  of  the  Commis- 
sioner of  Education,  in  the  year  1890-91  there  were  in  the  universities 
and  colleges  of  the  county,  40,089  men;  in  the  year  1902-03  there  were 
69,178,  an  increase  of  nearly  three-fourths.  In  1890-91  there  were  in 
the  schools  of  technology  6,131  men;  in  1902-03  there  were  13,216, 
these  institutions  having  more  than  doubled  their  attendance  in  thir- 
teen years. 

In  the  year  1890-91  in  all  the  theological  schools  of  the  country 
there  were  recorded  7,328  students.  In  1897-98  this  number  had 
risen  to  8,871.  But  in  1902-03,  notwithstanding  the  enormous  in- 
crease in  the  number  of  young  men  enrolled  in  the  literary  and  pro- 
fessional departhients  of  universities  and  colleges,  the  number  of  stu- 
dents for  the  ministry  in  all  denominations  had  sunk  back  again  to 
7,372.  Had  the  enrollment  of  students  for  the  ministry  kept  pace 
with  the  increase  in  the  enrollment  of  young  men  in  colleges  and  uni- 
versities, the  number  in  1902-03  would  have  been  above  12,000. 

Several  causes  have  contributed  to  this  result.  We  should  not, 
however,  attribute  too  much  importance  to  the  cause  which  is  most 
frequently  mentioned,  perversion  of  our  youth  by  Mammon,  and  the 
influence  of  the  so-called  practical  education  upon  those  whose  natural 
endowment  would  fit  them  to  do  work  in  lines  requiring  a  humanistic 
preparation.  We  all  remember  how,  at  the  call  to  arms  at  the  break- 
ing out  of  the  war  in  Cuba,  college  men  arose  everywhere  and  offered 
their  lives.  There  never  was  a  time  in  this  country,  I  believe,  when 
young  men  were  more  ready  to  give  themselves  to  a  life  of  self-sacri- 
fice, to  an  altruistic  motive,  than  the  present.  And  if  in  the  face  of 
this  condition  the  ministry  of  practically  all  the  denominations  has 
begun  to  suffer  from  a  dearth  of  candidates  so  that  it  looks  as  if  the 
religious  bodies  would  within  the  next  decade  experience  a  serious 
lack  of  trained  leaders,  there  must  be  other  reasons.     Among  the  more 


The  Religious  Census  of  the  State  Universities  and  Presbvterian  Colleges  in  the  vear  1896-97 
pp.  22  and  48;  see  also  Atlantic  Monthly,  Vol.  (1897). 

(160) 


43 

important  of  these,  I  am  convinced,  is  the  fact  that  upon  the  campus 
of  the  state  university,  as  the  men  of  the  Hterary  department  and  the 
numerous  visitors  from  the  lower  schools  pass  from  building  to  build- 
ing, the  law,  medicine,  engineering  and  other  specialties  are  silently 
urging  their  claims  and  stimulating  a  choice,  only  the  faculty  of  theol- 
ogv  is  alwavs  absent.  Any  direct  appeal  of  the  ministry  as  a  calling  to 
young  men  is  eliminated  from  the  atmosphere  of  the  state  universit}^ 
because  there  is  no  faculty  to  represent  it.  The  denominational 
schools  of  the  country — be  it  said  to  their  praise — have  done  and  are 
doing  a  great  work  in  the  training  of  men  for  the  ministry ;  yet  so  large 
is  the  proportion  of  eligible  young  men  who  now  go  to  the  state  uni- 
versities, and  who  as  a  result  of  their  environment,  when  they  are  lay- 
ing out  their  plan  of  life  eliminate  all  consideration  of  the  claims  of 
the  ministry,  that  the  total  number  of  students  choosing  this  exalted 
calling,  especiallv  students  of  the  first  rank  in  ability,  is  in  consequence 
abnormallv  reduced. 

What  remedy  may  be  proposed?  To  approach  the  point  directly, 
I  offer  for  consideration  the  following  resolution: 

'^  Resolved,  that  this  conference  recommends  to  the  religious  de- 
nominations the  consideration  of  the  question,  whether  the  theological 
schools  in  the  region  of  the  state  universities  may  not  be  grouped 
about  the  state  university  to  mutual  advantage. 

"And  be  it  further  resolved  that  the  chairman  of  this  conference 
and  the  President  of  the  University  of  Illinois  be  requested  to  act  as  a 
committee  to  transmit  a  copy  of  this  resolution  to  the  proper  ecclesi- 
astical authorities  for  each  denomination. 

Criticism  of  what  exists  is  useful  onlv  as  clearing  the  way ;  after  a 
certain  point  is  reached  constructive  work  is  much  more  valuable.  It 
is  easy  to  point  out  defects;  the  test  comes  in  the  finding  of  remedies. 
We  are  all  familiar  with  the  truism  that  though  individuals  may  work 
out  an  apparent  solution  of  a  sociological  problem,  men  in  masses 
move  toward  results  in  accordance  with  laws  which  are  only  imper- 
fectly apprehended.  A  problem  like  that  before  us  can  hardl}^  be 
solved  by  a  single  off-hand  solution.  Nevertheless,  a  definite  state- 
ment in  the  form  of  a  proposition  mav  be  useful  in  focusing  discussion 
and  we  may  properly  turn  to  a  consideration  of  the  question  whether 
the  final  remedv  of  the  situation  which  we  have  met  here  to  discuss 
may  not  be  the  planting  of  schools  of  theology  about  the  state  uni- 
versities. 

To  this  suggestion,  which  is  by  no  means  new,  two  objections  may 
be  urged.  The  first  is  that  the  immediate  contact  of  the  theological 
faculty  with  the  atmosphere  of  secular  instruction  will  diminish  faith 
and  will  result  in  a  demoralization  of  religious  teaching.  Have  we 
thus  learned  of  religion,  that  faith  is  born  of  ignorance?  Will  the 
churches  be  afraid  to  have  the  foundations  of  belief  tested  by  putting 

(161) 


44 

a  theological  faculty  beside  the  faculties  of  secular  science?  No! 
Never  did  men  more  clearly  perceive  than  today  that  the  religious 
faith  which  stands  for  all  that  is  true  and  sacred  in  the  interpretation 
of  the  divine  mysteries  in  relation  to  human  life  and  duty,  will  find 
itself  reinforced  and  sustained  by  the  closest  contact  with  secular 
science.  Are  nature  and  revelation  from  different  sources?  What 
God  hath  joined  together  let  not  man  put  asunder. 

The  second  objection  is  that  denominational  rivalries  would  cause 
unseemly  scenes ;  that  sectarian  jealousies  would  make  impossible  any 
real  cooperation  between  faculties  of  theological  schools  having  dif- 
ferent points  of  view,  and  would  largely  neutralize  their  influence.  Is 
it  not  evident  that  the  religious  denominations  tend  more  and  more 
to  emphasize  points  of  agreement  rather  than  of  difference,  and  to 
work  together  for  common  good  ?  To  judge  from  what  I  have  seen  of 
the  manifestation  of  a  spirit  of  brotherhood  among  workers  of  all 
shades  of  belief  at  Ann  Arbor,  theological  faculties  grouped  around  a 
state  university  and  facing  the  grave  responsibility  of  representing 
the  spiritual  side  of  education  in  a  microcosm  of  secular  thought,  would 
develop  a  solidarity  of  effort  and  a  mutual  helpfulness  beyond  a  degree 
ordinarily  thought  possible  today. 

Several  results,  it  seems  to  me,  would  follow  from  such  an  associa- 
tion of  advanced  religious  and  advanced  secular  education.  The  first 
is  economy  of  administration,  effecting  on  the  whole  no  inconsiderable 
saving.  How  in  the  great  majority  of  theological  schools  the  work  of 
instruction  is  hampered  by  lack  of  resources,  those  best  know  who 
are  carrying  the  burden  and  heat  of  the  day.  If  the  theological  school 
is  planted  beside  the  university,  the  expense  for  instruction  will  be 
materially  reduced.  Greek,  Hebrew,  and  other  studies  can  be  pur- 
by  representatives  of  different  denominations  in  the  university  at  a 
much  smaller  cost  than  in  separate  institutions.  Students  as  well  as 
professors  would  find  the  university  library  of  the  greatest  possible 
assistance;  and  in  still  other  ways  there  would  be  brought  about  an 
'enlargement  of  the  facilities  of  instruction  accompanied  by  a  reduction 
of  cost. 

A  second  consequence  would  be  a  normal  development  of  the  sciences 
directly  connected  with  theological  work,  in  an  atmosphere  of  freedom. 
One  of  the  speakers  this  morning  referred  to  the  perfunctory  character 
of  the  instruction  in  religion  in  certain  foreign  schools.  The  only  true 
service  of  the  spirit  is  that  which  is  rendered  voluntarily.  Such  a 
modus  Vivendi  as  that  proposed  would  relieve  the  theological  school 
from  the  difficulties  which  have  arisen  from  the  association  of  church 
and  state;  it  would  make  possible  the  best  results  in  the  adjustment 
of  religious  teaching  to  the  conditions  of  modern  life. 

Finally,  experience  shows  that  educational  reforms  work  not  from 
the  bottom  up,  but  from  the  top  down.     The  placing  of  groups  of 

(162) 


45 

specialists  in  all  branches  of  theological  study  about  the  state  univer- 
sities under  such  a  modus  vivendi  would  be  the  first  and  most  impor- 
tant step  toward  the  solving  of  the  mementous  problem  of  the  relation 
of  religious  to  secular  education  in  institutions  of  all  grades.  The 
trend  of  discussion  shows  an  increasing  dissatisfaction  with  the  pres- 
ent conditions.  Special  study  of  educational  questions  by  competent 
men  who  can  give  their  best  thought  to  a  particular  phase  is  the  order 
of  the  day.  and  reforms  have  again  and  again  worked  down  from  the 
state  universities  and  leavened  the  entire  school  system. 

Within  the  past  few  years  the  denominations  have  awakened  to  a 
realization  of  the  truth  that  the  state  universities  are  strategic  points, 
and  many  efforts  are  being  put  forth,  through  various  forms  of  religious 
organization,  to  bring  a  wholesome  influence  to  bear  upon  the  lives  of 
their  students  in  the  period  which  is  most  critical,  intellectuallv  and 
morally.  Such  eft"orts  are  worthy  of  all  encouragement.  No  working 
plan  has  so  far  been  devised,  however,  that  fully  meets  the  need;  and 
the  problem  of  supplying  a  religious  atmosphere  to  advanced  secular 
education  will  probably  not  be  fully  solved  in  this  country  until  it  is 
attacked  through  a  working  union  of  theological  faculties  in  close 
association  with  state  universities. 


THE    OBLIGATION   OF  THE   CHURCH   TO   ITS  ADHERENTS 
IN  THE  STATE  UNIVERSITIES 

Henry  Churchill  King,  D.D. 
President,  Oherlin  College,  Oberlin,  Ohio 

I.  The  Need  and  the  Opportunity.  The  obligation  of  the  Church 
lies  in  the  need  and  opportunity  afforded  by  the  state  universities. 

In  the  first  place,  the  adherents  of  the  churches  are  in  these  uni- 
versities in  large  numbers,  and  are  bound  to  be  there  in  increasing 
numbers.  Whether  the  churches  would  or  would  not  prefer  to  have 
the  situation  just  as  it  is,  is  quite  aside  from  the  point ;  for  they  need  to 
recognize  that  even  if  no  account  is  made  of  the  students  in  the  college 
departments  of  the  state  universities,  there  remains  a  very  large  num- 
ber of  adherents  of  the  churches  who  naturallv  must  get  their  technical 
or  professional  training  in  connection  with  the  state  universities. 

In  the  second  place,  these  students,  whether  in  attendance  upon 
the  college  or  other  departments  of  the  state  university,  are,  in  the 
nature  of  the  case,  among  the  picked  men  and  women  of  the  country,  sure 
to  have  influence  in  the  life  of  the  nation  quite  out  of  proportion  to 
their  numbers.  If  the  Church  means,  then,  to  be  a  powerfully  influ- 
ential body  in  the  life  of  the  country,  it  cannot  more  surely  achieve 
such  influence  than  by  making  certain  that  it  gets  strong  hold  upon 
these  picked  men  and  women  at  the  educational  centers. 

(163) 


46 

In  the  third  place,  the  need  and  opportunity  of  the  churches  in  the 
state  universities  is  to  be  seen  in  this:  that  the  students  in  thetn,  Hke 
the  students  in  all  other  colleges  and  universities,  need  religious  help, 
stimulus,  and  association  in  unusual  degree.  Students  stand  at  a  criti- 
cal time  in  their  lives.  They  haye  passed  from  their  homes  into  a 
changed  environment,  and  are  subject  to  a  flood  of  new  ideas.  These 
two  things  together  require  from  them  that  they  should  be  able  to  gain 
a  position  of  self-dependence,  and  should  be  able  to  make  considerable 
adjustment  and  reconstruction  in  their  thinking.  Many  of  them  seem, 
at  least  to  themselves,  to  be  confronted  with  the  serious  question, 
whether  it  is  possible  to  keep  their  religion  at  all?  They  need  the 
earnest  and  intelligent  help  of  their  churches. 

In  the  fourth  place,  these  college  and  university  students  should 
naturally  become  some  of  the  most  important  leaders  in  the  Church 
itself.  For  its  own  sake,  therefore,  the  Church  ought  not  to  neglect 
them.  Such  neglect  may  mean  that  the  Church  may  wholly  lose  these 
natural  leaders,  or  find  them  later  much  less  helpful  than  they  might 
easily  be. 

Again,  the  university  stands  for  expert  leadership  in  all  depart- 
ments of  thought.  If,  now,  religion  is  to  hold  its  own  in  the  life  of  the 
student,  it,  too,  should  have  expert  leadership,  of  a  kind  to  compare 
favorably  with  that  in  other  fields  of  thought  and  study  in  the  uni- 
versity. The  Church,  therefore,  cannot  simply  abandon  this  work, 
any  more  than  the  university  could  abandon  chemistry,  to  voluntary 
and  student  agencies,  however  good  these  may  be  in  themselves.  She 
must  do  something  toward  furnishing,  herself,  genuinely  expert 
leadership  for  these  student  thinkers  in  the  facing  of  their  personal 
religious  problems.  There  are  few  places  in  the  entire  work  of  the 
Church  where  she  need  to  plan  more  wisely  or  execute  more  energeti- 
cally. 

It  is  also  to  be  said  that  if  the  Church  has  a  mission  at  all,  she  is 
sent  to  minister  to  the  life  of  the  nation  and  of  the  world.  If  she  fails 
to  do  this,  she  loses  her  very  reason  for  being.  Now,  the  college  and 
university  men  and  women  are  the  natural  social  leaven  of  the  nation. 
It  is  imperative  for  the  country  that  they  be  men  and  women  of  the 
highest  character,  convictions,  and  ideals.  And  it  is  the  very  end,  at 
least  of  college  training,  to  make  sure  that  this  is  the  case.  If,  now, 
the  state  university  is  at  any  point  hindered,  in  the  nature  of  the  case, 
from  the  full  use  of  the  religious  motive,  there  is  all  the  greater  reason 
why  the  Churches  should  here  feel  peculiar  responsibility.  For  if  the 
Churches  believe  in  the  fundamental  need  of  religion  for  the  freest  and 
largest  ethical  life,  they  must  recognize,  in  the  case  of  the  state  uni- 
versity, a  peculiar  demand  upon  them — a  demand  in  some  respects 
even  more  important  than  that  made  by  their  own  denominational 
colleges,   where   the   inside   influences   in   the   religious   direction   are 

(164) 


47 

stronger  and  may  be  more  freely  used.  Here,  in  the  state  universities, 
is  the  place,  and  the  student  period  is  the  time,  for  the  churches  to  do, 
perhaps,  their  most  effective  work. 

And,  once  more,  it  is  the  very  genius  of  Christianity  to  touch  a  few 
lives  poii'erjnlly,  and  to  make  these  lives  leaven  for  the  rest.  The  churches 
would  be  doing  hardly  less  than  neglecting-their  characteristic  oppor- 
tunity, if  they  failed  to  touch  powerfully  these  nerve-centers  of  the 
nation's  life.  For,  from  out  of  these  state  universities  are  to  go  a 
large  number  of  graduates  who  are,  in  no  small  degree,  to  determine 
— aside  from  the  ministry — as  editors,  lawyers,  physicians,  engineers, 
and  industrial  leaders,  the  tone  of  the  communities  into  which  they 
are  to  go,  toward  the  religious  and  ethical  life.  They  are  to  decide 
whether  that  tone  is  to  be  contemptuous,  indifferent,  tolerant,  con- 
vinced, or  enthusiastic. 

For  all  these  reasons,  then,  it  is  high  time  that  the  Church  awoke 
to  the  fact  that  the  state  universities  offer  an  almost  unrivalled  op- 
portunity— an  opportunity  that  may  well  challenge  their  strongest 
and  most  enthusiastic  efforts. 

II.  How  the  obligation  is  to  be  met.  When  we  turn  from  this  state- 
ment of  the  obligation  of  the  Church  to  its  adherents  in  the  state  uni- 
versities to  ask  how  this  obligation  is  to  be  met,  it  must  be  said,  I 
think,  first  of  all,  that  probably  the  largest  part  of  the  work  of  the 
Church  here  must  be,  after  all,  in  helping  universities  te  see  what  they 
themselves  can  well  and  wisely  do.  For  the  best  outside  agencies  can 
never  take  the  place  of  the  internal  ideals  and  associations  of  the 
university  itself.  If  those  who  believe  in  the  highest  ethical  and 
religious  ideals  are  not  concerned  to  see  that  the  universities  awake  to 
the  largeness  of  the  opportunity  which  is  theirs,  even  upon  the  strict- 
est construction  of  their  constitutional  policies,  comparatively  little 
will  be  accomplished.  And  here  we  may  build  with  great  confidence 
and  hope  upon  the  fundamental  psychological  principle  of  the  unity 
of  man.  If  a  man  is,  indeed,  as  Sabatier  maintains,  "incurably 
religious,"  that  fact  is  sure  to  come  out  somehow,  in  thoroughgoing 
training  of  any  kind. 

And,  first,  the  state  university  can  insist  that,  just  because  it  is  a 
state  institution,  it  must  be  a  preeminently  law-abiding  community. 
It  has  an  opportunity  to  cultivate  directly,  in  the  course  of  an  educa- 
tion what  is  the  express  gift  of  the  state,  a  state  and  citizen  conscious- 
ness that  is  greatly  needed,  and  may  in  time  exert  a  strong  influence 
not  only  upon  other  colleges  and  universities,  but  also  upon  the  general 
community.  Have  the  state  institutions  sufficiently  seen  that  every 
decent  motive  should  call  for  scrupulous  regard  on  the  part  of  their 
students  for  civil  order  and  complete  obedience  to  the  law?  The  very 
peculiarity  of  the  situation  within  the  state  university  should  make  it 
possible  to  cultivate  a  positive  enthusiasm  toward  the  state,  like  the 

(165) 


48 

enthusiasm  of  a  Japanese  soldier's  honor.  It  is  not  enough  that  the 
president  of  a  state  university  should  pay,  for  example,  for  restaurant 
property  that  has  been  smashed  by  student  rowdies.  The  state  com- 
munity is  rather  to  be  an  example,  in  these  respects,  to  all  other  com- 
munities. No  institution  of  learning  needs  to  be  more  clear  that  we 
cannot  wisely  combine  the'liberty  of  the  adult  with  the  irresponsibility 
of  the  child.  Now,  respect  for  law  is  fundamental  in  all  self-control, 
and  therefore  in  all  developments  of  character,  and  is  closely  akin  to  a 
true  religious  reverence.  If  the  state  universities  would  simply  throw 
the  whole  weight  of  their  influence  in  favor  of  becoming  preeminently 
law-abiding  communities,  a  very  great  contribution,  therefore,  would 
be  made  in  the  entire  higher  life  of  the  nation,  which  suffers  to-day  in 
remarkable  degree  from  this  lack  of  respect  for  law. 

In  the  second  place  it  is  peculiarly  open  to  the  state  university  in  a 
republic,  to  cultivate  within  its  student  body  a  pure  democracy  that 
shall  stand  against  all  forms  of  aristocracy,  of  privilege  of  any  kind; 
against  the  aristocracy  of  sex,  of  color,  of  wealth,  of  the  clique,  and  as 
well  against  all  interference  with  the  liberties  and  rights  and  self- 
respecting  dignity  of  other  men.  The  state  university  belies  its  call- 
ing if  it  fails  to  be,  in  rare  degree,  a  place  where  a  man  is  estimated  for 
what  he  truly  is,  and  where  the  members  of  the  university  community 
recognize  that  they  are  members  of  one  another,  and  need  one  another. 
And  they  can  hardly  be  true  at  all  to  their  state  connection,  without 
developing,  in  marked  degree,  among  their  students  that  willingness 
for  unselfish  leadership  which  is  absolutely  essential  to  a  true  and 
growing  democarcy.  Just  so  far,  now,  as  the  state  university  does 
succeed  in  producing  such  a  pure  democracy,  it  is  making,  in  my 
judgment,  a  direct  religious  contribution.  For  it  is  bringing  to  pass 
within  its  own  borders,  in  considerable  degree,  that  "civilization  of 
the  brotherly  man"  which  is  the  very  essence  of  the  Kingdom  of  God. 
A  man  or  institution  that  is  in  thorough  earnest  to  bring  to  pass  the 
civilization  of  the  brotherly  man  is  doing  more  than  can  easily  be 
estimated  to  make  it  easier  for  men  to  believe  in  a  God  of  love. 

In  the  third  place,  it  belongs,  one  may  rightfully  say,  to  the  state 
universities  even  more  than  to  the  private  institutions,  to  insist  on 
good  morals  as  training  to  good  citizenship.  The  state  cannot  justify 
to  itself  its  expenditure  upon  these  universities,  except  upon  the 
ground  that  they  have  a  distinct  contribution  to  make  in  the  develop- 
ment of  good  citizens.  They  are  not  to  be  supported  from  any  other 
point  of  view.  We  cannot  too  often  remind  ourselves  of  that  truth 
which  has  recently  been  so  vigorously  reiterated  by  President  Butler 
before  the  students  of  Columbia  University:  "This  university  and  all 
universities,  in  season  and  out  of  season,  must  keep  clearly  in  view 
before  themselves  and  the  public  the  real  meaning  of  character,  and 
they  must  never  tire  of  preaching  that  character  and  character  alone 

(166) 


49 

makes  knowledge,  skill,  and  wealth  a  help  rather  than  a  harm  to  those 
who  possess  them  and  to  the  community  as  a  whole."  It  is  a  little 
curious,  when  one  examines  the  matter  from  the  point  of  view  of  the 
simple  importance  of  self-preservation  on  the  part  of  the  state,  that 
it  should  never  have  been  thought  to  be  true  that  the  state  universities 
might  be  more  careless  than  private  instituions  in  this  matter  of  the 
insistence  upon  good  morals.  That  is  not  funny  in  college  men, 
wherever  it  occurs,  that  would  be  regarded  as  disgusting  dissipation 
or  unbearable  rowdyism  and  disturbance  of  the  peace  in  .workmen. 
Is  it  too  much  to  ask  that  our  state  institutions  should  be — what  they 
might  easily  become — leaders  in  developing  something  like  truly 
knightly  ideals  on  the  part  of  their  student  bodies,  leaders  in  develop- 
ing college  men  who  shall  approximate,  at  least,  to  a  fulfillment  of 
Newman's  famous  definition  of  a  gentleman?  Now,  for  the  state 
university  to  be  dead  in  earnest  in  this  development  of  moral  char- 
acter, is  to  deepen  inevitably  at  the  same  time  the  student's  capacity 
for  religion. 

Furthermore,  the  churches  may  help  the  university  to  remember 
that  it  not  only  has  a  perfect  right,  but  in  its  fulfillment  of  the  trust 
given  it  by  the  state,  it  has  the  paramount  duty  of  insisting  on  a  high 
personnel,  atmosphere,  and  spirit  in  the  university.  In  my  judgment, 
this  is  the  one  great  need,  lacking  which  all  things  are  lacking;  having 
which  the  essentials  are  all  present.  Both  character  and  faith  come 
primarily — one  may  not  forget — by  personal  association.  Nothing 
will  make  good  this  lack.  Without  these,  pedagogical  methods,  text- 
books, and  courses  of  study  are  all  but  "thunder  and  comedy.  "  And 
there  is  nothing  in  the  separation  of  Church  and  state  which  may  re- 
quire the  ignoring  of  the  highest  qualities  on  the  side  of  character  and 
ideals  in  instructors.  In  the  university,  the  state  is  carrying  on  in- 
struction of  various  kinds  on  the  ground  of  its  value  to  the  state.  It 
has,  therefore,  not  only  the  right,  but  the  duty  to  insist  that  the  best 
development  of  its  youth  shall  not  be  jeopardized  by  bad  character 
and  low  ideals  in  the  instructors.  And  where  the  character  and  ideals 
of  the  instructors  are  what  they  ought  to  be,  it  is  impossible  that 
the  university,  any  more  than  the  public  schools,  should  be  properly 
called  godless.  In  the  words  of  Fichte,  "a  godlike  life  is  the  divinest 
proof  a  man  can  give  of  the  being  of  God. " 

Again,  the  churches  mav  do  something  to  help  the  university  to 
see  the  contribution  which  it  may  make  to  the  higher  life  of  the  nation 
in  its  strict  scientific  teaching.  For,  just  so  far  as  the  genuinely  scien- 
tific spirit  is  preserved  in  the  university,  there  will  be,  first,  open- 
minded,  eager  love  of  the  truth,  and  humility  toward  it,  that  means 
hardly  less  than  the  fulfillment  of  the  first  beatitude.  This  same 
strict  scientific  spirit  should  lead,  also,  to  iviilingness  to  recognize  all 
data,  in  the  interests  of  the  entire  man,  and  not  merely  those  data 

(167) 


50 

which  it  is  most  easy  to  bring  into  a  mathematico-mechanical  view  of 
the  world.  If  we  can  only  keep  unsullied  this  absolute  openness  to 
all  the  light,  the  ideal  interests  need  have  no  fear.  But  one  may  well 
protest  against  that  "sham  and  puerile  kind  of  heroism,"  to  use 
Lotze's  language,  "that  glories  in  renouncing  that  which  no  one  has 
ever  any  right  to  renounce."  Scientific  investigation,  indeed,  for  the 
very  reason  'that  it  aims  to  push  forward  in  its  pursuit  of  truth  as 
rapidly  as  it  can  on  the  basis  of  all  the  facts  already  ascertained,  is  in 
its  very  essence  adopting  the  fundamental  principle  of  "treating  the 
truth  as  true."  And  this  very  thing,  I  cannot  forget,  was  the  defini- 
tion of  my  own  old  college  president  of  the  essence  of  faith.  In  fact, 
it  often  seems  to  me  that  if  our  universities  could  only  carry  through 
with  complete  and  radical  consistency,  the  scientific  spirit,  that  spirit 
would  be  found  to  be  most  closely  and  inevitably  allied  to  the  humble, 
reverent,  obedient  spirit  of  religion. 

If,  now,  the  state  universities  would  be  in  dead  earnest  in  the  points 
already  mentioned — in  insisting  on  a  pre-eminently  law-abiding  com- 
munity, in  persistently  cultivating  a  pure  democracy,  in  demanding 
good  morals  as  training  to  good  citizenship,  in  maintaining  the  highest 
personal  character  and  ideals  in  the  personnel  of  faculty  and  officials, 
and  in  complete  loyalty  to  the  strict  scientific  spirit — I  have  no  doubt 
that  the  problem  of  religion  in  the  university  would  be  largely  solved. 
Still,  it  may  be  worth  while  still  further  to  suggest — though  in  my 
judgment  far  less  important^-that  with  the  strictest  interpretation 
of  the  separation  of  religion  and  the  state,  the  universities  might  yet 
most  appropriately  offer  directly  fundamental  courses  in  the  philosophy, 
psychology,  and  history  of  religion,  in  which  the  religions  of  the  world 
and  the  Old  Testament  and  the  New  Testament  should  be  given  their 
simple,  legitimate  place,  and  their  great  involved  personalities  duly 
appreciated ;  in  which  the  religion  of  the  modern  civilized  world  would 
not  be  considered  as  less  worthy  of  knowledge  than  that  of  the  Egyp- 
tians and  Chinese ;  and  in  which  such  literature  of  power  and  of  char- 
acter-producing energy  as  the  Bible  has  abundantly  proved  itself 
to  be,  should  not  be  ignored.  "Indeed,"  said  Professor  Budde,  after 
affirming  most  completely  the  necessity  of  the  scientific  method  in  the 
study  of  religion,  "the  more  we  extend  the  range  of  observation  and 
the  deeper  we  penetrate  into  details,  the  more  evident  will  it  become 
that  the  reality  of  religion  is  incontestable  and  its  vitality  indestruct- 
ible. 

Perhaps  the  whole  range  of  the  possibilities  of  the  universities,  as 
concerns  the  ethical  and  religious  life  of  the  student,  might  be  put  in 
this  way:  the  really  fundamental  temptations  of  life — underlying  all 
others  of  every  kind — seem  to  me  to  be,  (1)  the  temptation  to  abuse 
one's  trust,  (2)  the  temptation  to  fall  below  one's  highest  spiritual 
sensitiveness,  (3)  the  temptation  to  seek  relief  in  change  of  circum- 

(168) 


51 

stances  rather  than  in  change  of  self,  (4)  the  temptation  to  disbelief  in 
men,  and  (5)  the  temptation  to  disbelief  in  God.  There  ought  to  be 
no  question  that  against  all  of  these,  certainly,  except  the  last,  the  state 
university  may  rightfully  cast  its  full  strength.  For,  in  very  self- 
defense,  the  state  can  hardly  do  less  than  to  require  that  the  spirit  of 
its  institutions  of  learning  should  persistently  cultivate  in  its  students 
(1)  loyalty  to  trust,  (2)  truth  to  their  highest  spiritual  sensitiveness, 
(3)  determination  not  to  relpace  the  needed  change  of  self  by  an  at- 
tempted change  of  circumstances,  and  (4)  growing  faith  in  men.  Out 
of  these,  if  the  university  attempts  no  more,  will,  with  practical 
inevitableness,  grow  the  spirit  of  trust  in  God. 

In  all  these  possibilities  we  have  simply  been  building  upon  the 
principle  of  the  indissoluble  unity  of  man. 

But  the  theme  assigned  to  me  looks,  I  suppose,  still  more  directly 
to  the  question,  what  the  churches  themselves  can  do  to  meet  the  need 
and  opportunity  afforded  them  in  the  state  universities?  And  here, 
it  seems  to  me  that  we  must  say  that  the  greatest  service  the  churches 
could  render  of  themselves  would  be  simply  to  come  to  some  adequate 
recognition  of  the  real  need  and  opportunity,  and  to  gird  themselves  to 
meet  them. 

The  first  condition  in  any  such  adequate  meeting  of  the  obligation 
upon  them  would  be,  it  seems  to  me,  a  spirit  of  hearty  cooperation 
between  all  the  religious  and  Christian  forces  in  the  university  com- 
munity, in  order  to  present  a  powerful,  united  front  and  bring  the  full 
force  of  fundamental  convictions  to  bear  on  the  student  body.  And 
this  needs  the  most  careful  guarding.  The  principle  should  be,  unity 
to  the  farthest  degree  possible — division  only  where  unity  is  for  the 
present  unattainable. 

For  the  individual  denomination,  the  first  responsibility,  doubtless, 
is  the  maintaining  at  these  university  centers  of  a  notably  strong  pul- 
pit. It  may  be  doubted  whether  there  are  any  situations  in  the 
country  where  such  a  pulpit  is  so  much  needed.  These  preachers  to 
imiversity  audiences  need  to  be,  in  the  first  place,  genuinely  scholarly 
men,  and  yet  much  more  than  mere  scholars.  On  the  one  hand,  (1) 
they  must  be  alive  to  the  modern  world,  and  to  all  its  questions  as  they 
come  to  the  student  in  his  college  and  university  years.  And,  (2) 
they  need  to  stand  very  close  to  the  young,  and  to  have  some  experi- 
mental and  svmpathetic  feeling  for  their  difficulties.  Only  so  will  they 
be  able  to  meet  these  difficulties  with  real  and  helpful  satisfaction. 
On  the  other  hand,  (3)  these  preachers  at  university  centers  must  be 
genuine  prophets  and  seers,  with  power  to  see  the  great  fundamental 
Christian  truths  in  their  full  meaning  and  power,  so  to  re-think  them 
and  re-state  them  in  modem  terms  as  to  make  them  for  their  audiences 
unmistakably  real,  rational,  and  vital.  Above  all,  they  must  know 
how  to  make  real  to  men  the  great  figure  of  Christ,  that  they  may 

(169) 


52 

come  to  share  in  his  feeling  and  spirit  and  purposes,  as  the  great  Ger- 
man theologian,  Herrmann,  says  of  himself: 

"The  writer's  power  is  insufficient  for  such  speech  concerning 
Jesus  as  should  make  His  portrait  alive  and  powerful  in  the  soul  of  the 
reader.  When  a  man  can  do  that  he  ought  to  cease  to  be  an  academic 
theologian ;  he  should  hasten  as  a  preacher  of  the  gospel  to  give  to  the 
community  the  best  thing  that  can  be  given  to  it. " 

Men  like  Phillips  Brooks  are,  of  course,  not  numerous;  but  some 
such  work  as  he  was  able  to  do  for  students  is  perhaps  the  greatest 
work  that  can  be  done  by  the  churches  for  university  students.  So 
imperative  is  this  need  of  a  notabh^  strong  pulpit  in  the  university 
centers,  that  those  denominations  are  certainlv  wise  that  make  the 
meeting  of  this  need  not  merely  a  matter  of  local,  but  of  denomina- 
tional policy  and  enterprise.  For  that  church  which  gets  persistently 
the  strongest  hold  on  the  college  and  university  men  and  women  of 
the  nation  is  sure  sooner  or  later  to  lord  it  in  the  thought  and  life  of 
the  people  as  a  whole. 

Besides  this  need  of  a  modern  and  prophetic  pulpit,  there  is  the  other 
still  more  individual  need  of  personal  touch.  In  his  chapter  on  the 
will.  Professor  James  has  told  us  to  how  large  an  extent  it  is  true  that 
we  catch  both  our  courage  and  our  faith  from  others.  And  at  no  time 
more  than  in  these  growing  years  of  his  intellectual  life  does  the  young 
man  or  woman  need  this  life-giving  touch  of  courageous  and  believing 
personalities.  This  is  the  one  great  prerequisite.  It  is  thoroughly 
worth  while  for  the  individual  church  at  the  university  center — or  the 
denomination,  if  the  church  cannot  singly  do  it — to  provide  for  close 
pastoral  relation  for  the  students  naturally  falling  to  its  care,  and  to  do 
all  possible — through  perhaps  a  guild  or  parish  house — to  furnish  for 
them  some  real  church  home,  and  to  meet,  partially  at  least,  their 
social  needs.  The  enlistment  of  such  students,  also  so  far  as  is  feasible, 
in  some  definite  work  of  the  church,  even  though  that  work  raay  be 
comparatively  light,  would  be  a  distinct  gain. 

And,  beside  the  strong  pulpit  and  the  real  pastoral  relation  and 
the  church  home,  each  church  at  the  university  center  ought  to  pro- 
vide in  some  way  Bible  study  of  the  first  value.  This  might  be  done  in 
connection  with  the  Young  Men's  and  Young  Women's  Christian 
Association  Bible  courses  in  the  university  by  offering  classes,  or  under- 
taking the  leadership  of  such  classes  in  the  Association  courses  in 
connection  with  the  church.  But  beside  that,  the  church  ought  itself 
to  be  doing  something  so  distinctly  superior  in  the  line  of  Bible  study 
as  to  get  a  strong  hold  upon  the  students  to  whom  it  ought  naturally 
most  to  appeal.  No  movement  in  the  modern  religious  life  of  the 
students  is  more  hopeful  than  this  Bible  study  movement.  And  the 
young  men  and  young  women  cannot  be  brought  face  to  face  with 
the   careful    study   of   the   Scriptures   without   permanent   results   in 

(170) 


53 

thought  and  life.  A  good  deal  of  valuable  personal  conversation  on 
great  religious  themes  can  be  quite  naturally  brought  out  in  this  way 
when  it  could  be  achieved  in  no  other.  It  ought  usually  to  be  possible 
for  a  church  at  a  university  center  to  enlist  some  strong  member  of  the 
university  faculty  itself  in  the  leadership  of  some  such  Bible  study 
work.  It  can  easily  be  seen  that  where  that  can  be  done,  a  double 
influence  is  exerted;  for  the  influence  of  the  man's  position  is  felt,  even 
bv  those  who  never  find  their  way  to  his  Bible  study  class. 

Where  the  denomination  undertakes,  in  addition  to  the  local 
church,  to  provide  something  like  pastoral  care  of  its  own  adherents 
in  the  university,  it  mav  perhaps  most  wisely  combine  with  that — as 
some  of  the  denominations  have  already  done — the  endowment  of 
some  form  of  Bible  Chair,  so  that  there  should  be  open,  particularly 
to  the  students  naturally  belonging  to  its  care,  but  also  to  any  stu- 
dents, that  expert  leadership  in  the  study  of  the  Bible  to  which  refer- 
ence has  alreadv  been  made.  In  such  a  case  the  need  of  some  center 
for  the  work  might  very  naturally  lead,  as  it  has  already  done  in  some 
places,  to  the  establishment  of  some  form  of  church  house,  in  which 
might  perhaps  be  gathered  as  a  home  some  proportion  at  least  of  these 
students.  These  latter  means,  however,  seem  to  me  not  only  much 
more  costly,  but  really  less  necessary,  and  I  am  inclined  to  think  less 
wholesomely  influential  in  the  life  of  the  students  than  those  agencies 
which  can  be  somewhat  more  directly  and  naturally  connected  with 
the  representative  church  of  the  denomination  in  the  university  town. 
It  does  not  seem  to  me  to  be  of  the  first  importance  that  the  student 
should  never  get  out  of  touch  with  the  peculiar  influences  of  his  own 
denomination.  It  may  quite  conceivably  be  well  for  him  that  he 
should  not  be  so  closely  and  continuously  under  this  supervision. 
'The  broader  influence  of  the  general  church  and  Christian  life  of  the 
community  may  actually  do  more  for  him,  even  from  the  point  of 
view  of  the  denomination,  than  would  the  more  closely  centered  in- 
fluences of  the  denominational  church  house.  I  have,  besides,  the 
strong  feeling  that  there  is  clear  gain  in  keeping  the  sources  of  the 
religious  life  of  the  student  as  far  as  possible  just  those  that  they  may 
be  through  the  rest  of  his  life;  and  I  should,  therefore,  myself,  prefer 
to  see  the  denominational  influence  exerted  largely  through  its  repre- 
sentative church,  rather  than  in  more  independent  and  costly, 
though  more  imposing  fashion. 

The  only  absolutely  vital  things  for  either  the  church  or  the  uni- 
versity to  remember,  in  the  work  that  it  undertakes  for  students,  are, 
(1)  the  indispensableness  and  primary  necessity  of  personal  associa- 
tion— the  inspiration  that  comes  from  the  personal  message  and  the 
personal  life;  (2)  the  psychological  imperativeness  of  ^ome  form  of 
expression  for  the  highest  ethical  and  spiritual  life  of  the  student;  (3) 
the  recognition,  both  in  this  association  and  in  this  expression,  of  the 

(171) 


54 

student's  ozvn  choice  and  initiative;  (4)  the  clear  discernment,  also,  that 
the  life  of  the  student  is  a  unit,  and  that  all  sides  of  the  university  life 
to  which  reference  has  already  been  made,  do  count  most  strongly  for 
the  religious  life,  though  they  are  not  so  named,  and  that,  therefore, 
the  religious  work  of  the  churches  is  not  to  be  regarded  as  something 
simply  mechanically  tacked  on  to  the  work  of  the  university,  but 
naturalh^  and  organically  knit  up  with  it. 


DISCUSSION 

James  David  Moffat,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

President  of  Washington  and  Jefferson  College,  and  Moderator  of  the 

General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  Washington,  Pa. 

I  have  been  asking  myself,  how  does  this  problem  come  to  be  so 
important  at  this  time?  It  seems  to  me  that  if  I  can  find  an  answer 
to  that  question  it  may  throw  some  light  upon  the  problem  itself,  and 
later  upon  the  question — what  is  to  be  done  to  meet  it?  My  answer 
is  that  this  problem  arises  in  our  country  because  the  state  universities 
are  something  more  than  universities,  and  somewhat  less  than  the 
ideal  university  so  often  held  before  us  for  our  admiration  and  our 
inspiration.  In  our  universities  are  found  some  A^oung  men  and  some 
young  women  who  are  pursuing  post-graduate  studies,  but  more  who 
are  pursuing  college  and  even  secondary  studies.  They  are  largely 
young  people  from  fifteen  to  twenty-two  years  of  age,  whereas  in  the 
ideal  universities  you  would  find  young  people  from  twenty  to  thirty 
years  of  age  who  had  completed  their  college  course  and  were  engaged 
in  specializing  in  their  chosen  departments,  or  in  preparation  for  their 
professional  or  technical  life.  If  our  state  universities  were  exclusive- 
ly for  post-graduate  study  we  might  give  to  the  faculty  ample  liberty 
of  teaching,  and  might  trust  the  students  to  investigate  all  problems' 
for  themselves,  to  go  from  one  professor  to  another,  to  look  into  the 
sources  and  the  grounds  of  this  position  and  that  one,  and  determine 
for  themselves,  as  sooner  or  later  every  human  being  must  determine 
his  own  religious  creed. 

But  the  young  people  gathered  together  in  so  many  of  our  state 
universities  are  away  from  home  for  the  first  time.  They  are  away 
from  their  customarv  church  privileges.  Thev  are  at  what  is  called 
the  impressionable  age,  and,  what  seems  to  me  far  more  important  as  a 
characteristic  than  that,  they  are  great  respecters  of  authority.  In 
the  earlier  stages  of  education  there  is  necessarily  an  appeal  to  author- 
ity. The  elementary  principles  of  many  branches  of  human  knowl- 
edge can  only  be  acquired  by  the  study  of  a  text-book  and  careful 
attention  to  the  teacher.  Those  of  us  who  are  connected  with  college 
education,  properly  so-called,  are  endeavoring  all  the  time  to  furnish 
the  transition  between  respect  for  authority  and  independent  personal 
investigation ;  and  it  is  my  belief  that  every  college  course  ought  to  be 

(172) 


55 

so  shaped  that  there  may  be  a  genuine  transition  from  the  collegiate 
period  of  studv  to  the  university  period  and  method  of  study,  properly 
so-called.  I  should  feel,  in  sending  mv  own  son  away  at  twenty-one, 
that  he  must  choose  for  himself.  I  do  feel  that  until  he  is  twenty-one 
I  am  under  strict  obligations  to  supervise  his  education,  not  alone  his 
secular  education,  but  also  his  religious  education.  Under  these  cir- 
cumstances I  think  it  cannot  seem  strange  to  the  authorities  of  state 
universities  that  parents  all  over  our  land  have  been  somewhat  con- 
cerned about  the  religious  development  of  their  children,  especially 
when  they  have  been  assured  that  university  instruction  in  religion  is 
entirely  colorless,  or  that  it  is  sometimes  indefinite,  or  even  antagonis- 
tic to  the  Christian  faith.  At  the  very  best,  these  young  people  must 
come  in  contact  with  opinions  and  facts  and  references  that  are  more 
or  less  inconsistent  with  the  fundamental  beliefs  in  their  religious  life, 
and  in  such  circumstances  the  spirit  of  a  respected  professor,  whatever 
his  branch  of  teaching,  the  absence  of  a  word  or  the  appearance  of  a 
smile,  may  create  a  doubt,  a  difficulty  that  years  may  be  required  to 
remove.  Religious  people  understand  this  and  w4sh  to  guard  against 
it,  and  they  are  asking  that  there  shall  be  incorporated  in  the  uni- 
versity or  connected  in  some  way  with  it,  that  which  may  possibly 
counteract  this  influence  and  tendency  to  an  irreligious  life. 

Now,  how  are  we  to  meet  this  practical  problem?  We  are  en- 
deavoring to  find  out.  It  occurs  to  me  to  say,  first,  that  I  earnestly 
believe  that  each  denomination  should  look  after  its  own  children.  As 
a  Presbvterian,  I  feel  that  it  is  a  dutv  of  mv  church  not  to  be  indift'er- 
ent  to  the  surroundings,  the  environment  of  the  children  of  the  church 
during  the  ages  from  fifteen  to  twenty -one.  We  should  be  satisfied 
in  our  own  minds  that  something  is  being  done,  not  so  much  to  keep 
them  within  the  membership  of  our  own  church,  as  to  keep  them  with- 
in the  membership  of  the  Christian  church.  Our  denominations  are 
becoming  less  and  less  sectarian,  but  still  we  feel  that  we  have  a  com- 
mon interest  in  our  common  Christianity,  and  we  tremble  for  our 
country  if  the  educated  men  and  women  of  our  country  shall  hereafter 
be  more  or  less  indifferent  to  the  great  claims  of  the  Christian  religion 
upon  those  who  hear  of  it  and  who  have  endeavored,  for  the  time  at 
least,  to  respect  its  demands.  The  Presbyterian  church,  as  w^as  said 
here  this  morning,  took  steps  a  year  ago  to  see  if  we  cannot  do  some- 
thing toward  looking  after  our  own  sons  and  daughters  in  these  state 
universities;  and  the  plan  that  is  at  present  shaping  itself  is  to  employ 
some  one  person  especially  fitted  for  that  work,  to  operate  in  the  uni- 
versity in  connection  with  the  Presbyterian  local  church  and  pastor. 
The  pastor  alone  is  unable  to  meet  all  the  requirements  of  the  situation. 
He  has  his  charge  and  his  adult  membership  to  look  after.  But  with 
the  assistance  of  some  one  specially  selected  for  the  purpose  to  act  in 
a  measure  as  a  pastor,  it  is  hoped  that  some  sort  of  influence  may  be 

(173) 


56 

brought  to  bear  upon  the  boys  and  girls  away  from  their  homes  to 
make  them  feel  that  they  have  a  church  home  near  at  hand,  and  to 
give  them  such  assistance  in  their  religious  lives  as  they  may  need. 

A  great  deal  that  has  been  said  here  today  has  reference  I  think  to 
the  higher  religious  education,  to  the  settlement  of  the  great  problems 
which  are  always  arising  and  demanding  settlement.  But  what  is 
needed  at  the  early  age  of  which  I  now  speak,  more  than  anything 
else,  is  an  act  of  commitment  on  the  part  of  young  people.  To  what? 
to  their  own  present  sense  of  an  obligation  to  God  and  to  Jesus  Christ. 
That  is  of  more  importance  than  the  knowledge  of  all  history  and  of 
all  philosophy  and  theology,  and  that  is  something  against  which  no 
human  being,  whatever  may  be  his  creed,  can  raise  objection;  for 
every  human  conscience  attests  this  fact,  that  human  beings  are  under 
obligation  to  do  for  the  time  being  what  they  believe  to  be  right.  The 
step  that  takes  a  young  person  out  of  the  world  and  into  the  church  is 
that  particular  step.  It  determines  the  character;  it  will  have  its 
variations;  later  on,  new  knowledge  will  be  acquired  that  will  create 
new  aspects  and  new  modes  of  construction;  but  the  character  is 
fundamentallv  determined  when  a  human  heart  once  surrenders  to 
the  law  of  right.  We  Christians  believe  that  law  of  right  has  been  laid 
down  for  us  by  Jesus  Christ.  We  feel  that  if  we  can  have  young 
people  during  the  process  of  their  education  committed  to  Christ  in 
all  loyalty,  we  can  turn  them  loose  in  the  world  to  hear  what  the  world 
has  to  teach  them,  to  come  face  to  face  with  every  real  fact,  and  to 
examine  the  arguments  to  be  presented. 

I  think  the  Christian  people  of  our  country  have  a  right  to  demand 
that  the  state  university  shall  not  be  hostile  to  the  Christian  religion, 
that  its  professors  shall  conduct  the  instructions  of  the  class  room  in 
a  reverent  spirit,  that  they  shall  not  ruthlessly  trample  upon  the  tra- 
ditions that  have  been  learned  in  Christian  homes,  out  of  which  this 
great  nation  of  ours  has  been  builded.  Somehow,  every  university 
and  every  institution  in  this  world  of  ours,  must  sometime  settle  the 
question  whether  it  is  Christian  or  anti-Christian,  in  its  spirit  or  at- 
mosphere. There  is  no  neutrality  in  this  war,  because  this  war  is  for 
the  government  of  God.  However  much  Christian  people  differ  in 
creed  and  in  custom  they  are  all  working  to  bring  about  a  universal 
obedience  to  the  Divine  commandments,  and  in  the  pursuit  of  this 
end  they  have  a  right  to  sympathy  and  to  a  measure  of  cooperation 
from  every  educational  institution  that  does-  not  stand  for  atheism. 
But  having  committed  our  country  to  the  policy  of  the  separation  of 
church  and  state,  it  seems  to  me  that  it  follows  that  the  state  univer- 
sity should  seek  to  have  the  churches  look  after  the  religious  culture 
of  their  own  children,  rather  than  to  attempt  to  supply  that  need; 
for  the  endeavor  to  avoid  all  sectarian  bias  must  leave  the  religious 
teaching  too  colorless  to  be  effective.     The  fear  that  the  policy  I  am 

(174) 


57 

advocating  may  lead  to  the  building  of  a  cordon  of  denominational 
houses  around  the  campus  is  not  well  grounded.  The  denominations 
will  not  all  build  around  every  state  university,  but  only  where  their 
interest  are  great  enough  to  demand  it.  Where  the  number  of  their 
children  is  so  small  that  the  local  pastor  can  look  after  them,  or  where 
thev  mav  be  committed  to  the  care  of  other  churches  "near  of  kin," 
the  expense  of  a  separate  house  will  not  be  incurred. 


John  Henry  Gray,  Ph.D. 
Professor  in  Northwestern  University,  Evanstoii,  Illinois 

To  those  of  us  who  have  attempted  to  wrestle  in  a  serious  manner 
with  the  betterment  of  mankind,  it  is  becoming  increasingly  plain  that 
no  great  reform  does  or  can  stand  alone.  The  problem  of  religious 
education  is  certainly  one  of  the  most  vital  to  the  progress  of  humanity, 
and  rightlv  deserves  the  promintent  place  given  to  it  on  this  occasion. 
The  problem  of  religious  education  in  the  state  universities  is  nowhere 
more  important  than  in  this  Mississippi  Valley,  where  the  state  uni- 
versitv  is  beyond  a  doubt  the  dominant  type  of  higher  education. 
Whatever  may  be  true  of  the  eastern  portions  of  our  country,  and 
whatever  great  non-state  institutions  may  flourish — it  still  remains 
true  that  in  the  Mississippi  Valley,  containing  the  largest  homogeneous 
population,  speaking  one  language,  and  under  one  flag,  in  the  world 
— the  state  university  is  to-day,  and  is  sure  to  remain,  the  institution 
that  furnishes  the  higher  education  to  a  majoritv  of  the  people  of  this 
imperial  territory.  That  being  the  case,  the  civilization,  not  only  of 
this  region,  but  of  our  whole  country,  will  be  colored  largely,  if  not 
finally  determined  by  the  character  of  our  state  universities. 

I  think  it  fair  to  assume  that  the  state  university  originated  pri- 
marily in  two  ideas.  The  first  was  that  our  people  might  obtain  a 
less  expensive  and  more  universal  higher  education  than  was  possible 
at  that  time  in  the  denominational  and  non-state  institutions;  the 
other  was,  I  believe,  an  attempt  to  free  our  higher  education  from  the 
narrowness  of  the  dogmatic  instruction  and  attitude  of  the  denomi- 
national colleges  of  that  time.  The  reaction,  leading  to  the  formation 
of  the  state  universities,  so  far  as  connected  with  both  of  these  ideas, 
was  wholesome.  The  denominational  colleges  had  set  up  a  false 
opposition  between  science  and  religion.  In  the  then  existing  temper 
of  the  public  mind,  the  public  preferred  intellectual  freedom  to  dog- 
matic narrowness.  The  result,  however,  of  such  a  reaction  was  to 
lead  the  state  universities  to  accept  the  challenge  thrown  down  by 
the  church  schools,  and  to  assert  that  they  would  take  the  intellectual 
or  general  education,  and  let  the  church  colleges  take  the  religious 
education — an  idea  impossible  of  realization  for  either  party. 

The  position   was  untenable   for  both   sets  of  institutions.     The 

(175) 


58 

church  was  as  far  wrong  in  attempting  to  maintain  institutions  which 
set  up  a  barrier  against  the  progress  of  science  as  the  state  institutions 
were  to  assume  that  they  could  develop  independent  of  and  separate 
from  religion.  The  competition  of  the  two  kinds  of  institutions  for 
students  and  financial  support  has,  so  far  as  our  present  purpose  is 
concerned,  been  beneficial  to  both.  The  church  colleges  have  liberal- 
ized, and  have  realized  that  although  education  does  not  consist 
wholly  of  instruction,  no  amount  of  piety  can  be,  or  will  be  considered, 
an  off-set,  in  the  public  mind,  for  genuine  learning  and  efficient  teach- 
ing in  the  ordinary  sense  of  the  word.  On  the  other  hand,  the  state 
institutions  are  beginning  to  realize  that  their  position  is  equally  un- 
sound, and  that,  being  in  a  Christian  civilization,  that  so-called  educa- 
tion is  false,  lame  and  impotent,  which  fails  to  develop  the  whole  man, 
intellectually,  ethically,  and  spiritually.  In  other  words,  education 
is  a  development,  and  a  development  of  the  whole  man,  a  fitting  of 
one  for  living  in  a  religious  communitv,  in  a  Christian  civilization, 
and  such  education  cannot  be  attained  unless  the  spirit  of  religion 
pervades  and  dominates  the  whole  institution.  The  result  of  this 
awakening  on  both  sides  has  been  riot  only  beneficial  to  all,  but  it  has 
tended  to  a  very  great  degree  to  bring  the  institutions  nearer  together 
in  their  spirit  and  in  their  methods. 

But  the  problem  of  religious  education  and  of  the  relation  of  relig- 
ion to  education  is  far  from  a  satisfactory  solution  in  either  kind  of 
institution.  The  real  solution  must  be  substantiallv  the  same  in  both 
classes  of  institutions,  the  charge  that  the  denominational  college  was 
not  performing  its  whole  duty  in  regard  to  religion  has  led  to  the  setting 
up  of  a  chair  of  religious  or  bibical  instruction  in  manv  of  the  colleges. 
Although  the  motive  back  of  this  is  admirable,  the  efforts  to  carry  out 
the  plan  have  not  so  far,  I  believe,  met  with  the  success  hoped  for. 
The  original  advocates  of  such  chairs  are  now  calling  for  additional 
remedies.  However  excellent  the  man,  and  however  pure  the  motive 
in  creating  such  a  department,  the  effort  appears  to  rest  upon  fallacy, 
the  same  fallacy  upon  which  state  institutions  proceeded  when  they 
assumed  that  so-called  general  education,  or  intellectual  education, 
consisted  primarily  of  instruction,  and  ought  to  be,  and  could  be 
separated  from  religious  education.  Human  life  is  a  unit,  and,  as 
Professor  Coe  has  remarked,  religion  is  not  a  separate  department 
thereof,  nor  can  religious  education  be  promoted  wholly  or  chiefly  by 
setting  up  a  department  of  instruction  for  it,  as  you  would  set  up  a 
department  of  chemistry  or  philosophv.  The  effort  to  solve  the 
problem  in  this  way  savors  too  much,  at  least  in  the  public  mind,  of 
proselyting,  of  dogmatizing,  and  of  formalizing.  It  lacks  the  vital 
element.  It  is  impossible  in  this  time  of  increasing  freedom  of  elec- 
tion of  studies  to  prescribe  courses  in  such  a  department  of  bibical 
instruction  for  all  students.      If  that  cannot  be  done,  the  effort  at  best 

(176) 


59 

would  reach  but  a  relatively  small  part  of  the  total  student  body, 
which,  in  and  of  itself,  condemns  this  as  a  chief  solution  of  the  difficulty. 
Even  if  the  courses  could  be  prescribed,  the  case  would  be  no  better. 
You  could  make  students  attend  the  courses,  but  you  could  not  edu- 
cate them  religiously  or  cultivate  their  spiritual  life  thereby.  One  is 
not  made  religious  by  a  knowledge  of  religious  facts  or  history. 

This  leads  me  directly  to  the  subject  in  hand:  How  can  the  state 
uni\-ersitv  solve  the  problem?  As  already  indicated,  I  believe  the 
solu|ion  must  come  exactlv  in  the  same  way  in  the  two  sets  of  institu- 
tions. The  practical  working  out  of  the  problem,  however,  is  likely 
to  be  somewhat  more  difficult  in  the  state  university  because  of  the 
theory  on  which  the  state  universities  have  so  long  acted.  Religion 
is  not  maintained  in  our  higher  educational  institutions,  of  any  class, 
by  formal  instruction  on  the  subject.  It  must  come  in  both  cases  by 
christianizing  the  whole  atmosphere  of  the  respective  institutions,  and 
this  brings  us  to  the  most  important  element  in  all  education;  namely, 
the  personality  and  religious  character  of  the  corps  of  instructors.  I 
do  not  look  to  see  a  great  development  of  the  attempt,  already  carried 
out  in  a  few  instances,  to  establish  denominational  lectureships  and 
professorships,  or  dwelling  halls  or  colleges  in  the  state  universities. 
These  are  all  subject  to  exactlv  the  same  dangers  and  evils  as  the  cre- 
ations of  special  departments  of  religious  and. biblical  instruction  in 
church  schools,  and  that  settles  the  problem.  They  not  only  appeal 
to  relatively  few  out  of  the  total  student  body,  but  they  tend  to  em- 
phasize the  purely  denominational  and  sectarian  elements,  and  to 
become  purely  formal,  instead  of  reaching  the  essence  of  the  problem 
by  applying  the  principle  of  real  development.  At  best,  they  can  do 
nothing  but  give  instruction  to  a  handful  out  of  a  multitude  of  stu- 
dents. The  attempt  to  substitute  the  husks  of  denominational  dogma 
for  the  essence  of  personal  religious  life  must  always  fail. 

It  is  not  probable  that  the  different  branches  of  the  Christian 
church  will  become  one  body  in  organization;  nor  is  it  desirable  that 
they  should ;  but  it  is  desirable  from  every  standpoint  that  denomi- 
nationalism  should  not  be  substituted  for  religion.  It  is  proper  that 
children  of  people  belonging  to  a  certain  denomination  should  be 
instructed  in  the  history  and  tenets  of  that  denomination.  There  are 
things,  however,  in  my  opinion,  that  are  out  of  place  in  the  state  uni- 
versity, and,  generally  speaking,  of  the  higher  educational  institutions 
of  all  sorts.  The  dav  is  past  when  the  students  of  any  important  col- 
lege or  university  all  belong  to  one  denomination,  or  when  the  manag- 
ing bodies  wish  them. to  belong  to  one  denomination.  Therefore,  to 
lay  great  emphasis  on  this  matter  in  dealing  with  the  students  is  not 
only  to  do  a  wrong  to  a  part  of  the  student  body  and  to  substitute  the 
husks  for  the  kernel,  but  it  is  to  introduce  a  disintregating  force,  when 
what  we  most  need  is  to  unify  and  vivify  and  energize  the  life  of  the 

(177) 


60       • 

whole  university  by  the  direct  appeal  of  the  best  type  of  mature  relig- 
ious life  to  the  young  life  of  the  student.  The  problem  before  us  is  a 
problem  of  the  teacher.  When  the  state  universities,  without  for 
one  moment  lowering  the  purely  intellectual  standards  and  the  special 
qualifications  in  the  different  branches  of  learning,  see  to  it  that  none 
but  men  of  religious  character,  who  respect  and  reverence  things 
sacred  in  church  and  state,  are  put  into  the  teaching  corps,  the  problem 
is  solved,  because  the  atmosphere  about  the  place  will  soon  take  on 
the  color  of  their  lives,  and  the  immature  and  unformed  student  body, 
by  the  unconscious  process  of  absorption  and  development,  the  con- 
tact of  life  with  life,  and  soul  with  soul,  will  reflect  the  lives  and  char- 
acters of  the  teachers  about  them. 

What  is  true  of  the  state  universities  is  equally  true  of  the  denomi- 
national institutions,  although  in  view  of  the  tradition  and  all  the 
history  of  the  past,  I  venture  to  believe  that  the  denominational 
institutions  are  more  likely  to  realize  the  necessity  of  higher  intel- 
lectual qualities  and  special  attainments  than  the  state  universities 
are  to  realize  the  impossibility  of  separating  the  -secular  from  the 
religious,  and  the  necessity  of  choosing  men  who  respect  the  religious 
ideal.  Most  of  our  attempts,  heretofore,  in  institutions  of  both  classes, 
have  gone  on  the  principle  of  the  late  senator  of  the  United  States, 
when  he  declared  that  the  ten  commandments  have  nothing  to  do 
with  politics.  Ten  commandments  and  religion,  but  not  denomi- 
national differences,  have  to  do  with  education  of  every  sort,  whether 
in  the  denominational  school  or  the  state  university. 

If  we  would  send  out  from  our  higher  institutions  of  learning  men 
who  would  stand  four-square,  with  their  minds  and  hearts  bound  to 
the  divine  plans,  with  their  intellects  quickened  by  the  assurance  of 
their  divine  son-ship,  with  their  whole  education  vitalized  by  the  at- 
mosphere of  religion,  we  should  soon  bring  a  pressure  to  bear  in  choos- 
ing the  governing  boards  and  the  faculties  in  our  state  universities 
that  would  solve  this  vexing  problem.  At  the  same  time  we  should 
solve  the  problem  of  corruption  in  politics,  and  of  the  even  more  wide- 
spread and  degrading  graft,  thievery,  heartlessness,  and  corruption  in 
business  affairs.  The  time  is  past  when  general  education  can  be 
separated  from  religious  education,  or  when  politics  can  be  separated 
from  morals,  or  when  private  business  and  public  business  can  be  con- 
sidered subject  to  different  ethical  codes.  The  evils  from  which  we 
suffer  in  church  and  state  are  directly  traceable  to  this  attempt  at 
separation.  The  attempt  has  issued  in  a  wide-spread  belief  that  dog- 
matism is  religion;  the  next  step  is  to  the  belief. that  a  man  who  gives 
money  to  a  church,  who  attends  church  service,  and  who  says  public 
prayers,  can  behave  in  Wall  Street  as  though  there  were  no  God.  and 
as  though  religion  were  a  thing  to  put  on  and  off  at  pleasure,  and  that 
it  ought  to  be  put  on  for  state  occasions  and  Sunday  only. 

(178) 


61 

Let  those  who  desire  to  preserve  and  develop  the  religious  life  of 
their  sons  at  the  state  universities  bestir  themselves  to  see  that  no 
officer  of  the  government  or  instructor  is  elected  or  appointed  but 
such  as  they  would  wish  their  sons  to  emulate.  Let  them  next  see 
that  voluntary  religious  services  are  conducted  here  by  men  of  differ- 
ent denominations  and  of  such  spiritual  power  and  leadership  as  to 
sink  the  questions  of  their  denominational  affiliations  into  their  proper 
place  of  relative  insignificance.  Let  them  strengthen,  broaden,  and 
liberalize  the  college  Christian  Associations  and  encourage  the  stu- 
dents to  take  an  active  part  in  the  doing  the  will  of  God  by  helping 
their  fellow  men  bv  means  of  the  various  forms  of  practical  philan- 
thropy and  religious  work.  Then  the  epithet  of  "Godless"  will  soon 
cease  to  be  applied  to  the  state  universities.  Then,  too,  our  young 
men  and  young  women  will  be  developed  religiously  and  the  respective 
denominations  will  be  actuallv  strengthened  by  the  pouring  back  into 
them  vearlv  from  our  state  universities  an  ever  broadening  stream  of 
vitalized,  spiritualized,  trained,  religious  character  for  which  alone 
the  denominations  ought  to  exist. 


Reverend  Willis  G.  Banker,  D.D. 

Pastor  Presbyterian  Church,  Laivrence,  Kansas 

My  standpoint  differs  from  that  of  the  speakers  who  have  preceded 
me.  Thev  are  educators,  and  I  am  a  pastor;  but  my  pastoral  exper- 
ience is  somewhat  distinctive  in  that  most  of  my  ministrv  has  been  in 
intimate  relation  with  a  state  university,  from  which  comes  a  consid- 
erable part  of  mv  congregation.  Of  course,  the  university  atmosphere 
is  an  element  in  my  thinking  on  the  subject. 

On  the  whole,  I  think  our  young  people  are  wiser  than  their  ad- 
visers, at  least  in  our  Western  country,  when  they  prefer  the  university 
to  the  college.  The  university  offers  advantages  which  the  church 
college  does  not  and  cannot  offer.  Of  the  fifteen  hundred  and  thirty 
students  in  Kansas  University,  eight  hundred  and  sixty  are  in  the 
technical  and  professional  schools.  They  are  preparing  for  industrial 
life.  Some  mav  sneer  at  bread  and  butter  education,  but  the  fact 
remains  that  all  cannot  choose  literary  careers.  Somebody  must  open 
the  mines,  build  the  railroads,  and  manage  the  factories;  and  this 
somebody  must  have  technical  training. 

But  there  are  six  hundred  and  seventy  students  in  our  University 
College  of  Liberal  Arts, — pursuing  the  same  courses  which  are  pro- 
vided by  the  church  schools.  Would  they  enjoy  better  facilities  in  the 
churchs  chools?  I  do  not  think  so.  Aside  from  the  fact  that  there  can 
be  no  comparison  between  the  two,  as  to  equipment  in  faculty,  library, 
museums,  etc. ;  aside  from  the  cultural  value  of  larger  environment  in 
the  university,  there  seems  to  be  a  fundamental  defect  in  our  Western 

(179) 


62 

church  schools  which  prevents  their  doing  as  good  work  as  the 
university.  By  the  very  terms  of  their  foundation  they  are  bound 
to  promulgate  certain  ideas.  They  exist  primarily  for  the  maintenance 
and  propagation  of  certain  views  of  truth.  Now  whatever  else  that 
may  be,  it  is  not  education.  Education  is  the  opening  up  of  the  soul 
and  the  drawing  out  of  its  powers,  by  bringing  it  into  contact  with  all 
forms  of  truth.  The  university  is  free  to  do  this,  as  the  denomina- 
tional college  is  not. 

I  know  of  no  specific  commission  held  by  the  church  to  conduct 
institutions  of  general  education.  It  would  seem  to  be  the  natural 
and  proper  function  of  the  state.  We  have  conceded  this  in  primary 
and  secondary  education.  I  believe  we  should  do  so  in  higher  educa- 
tion. The  Church  inaugurated  education,  not  because  it  was  her 
proper  function,  but  because  she  is  a  missionary  and  herald  of  every 
good  thing.  The  State  was  unconcsious  of  her  educational  function, 
and  left  it  unfulfilled.  The  Church  stepped  into  the  breach,  took  up 
the  neglected  duty  of  the  State  and  discharged  it.  It  was  her  right 
and  duty  to  do  this  until  from  her  the  State  could  learn  its  duty  and 
relieve  the  Church  of  the  burden  of  general  education,  that  she  might 
have  her  forces  free  for  her  own  specific  work.  Indeed  she  has  an  edu- 
cational function  which  is  specifically  hers.  By  the  very  terms  of  her 
being,  and  by  the  specific  commission  received  from  her  Head,  she  is 
charged  with  the  duty  of  religious  education;  in  fact,  she  is  the  only 
social  organism  charged  with  that  duty. 

From  this  it  follows  that  the  Church  is  charged  with  responsibility 
for  religious  education  in  state  institutions  of  learning.  The  religious 
denominations,  which  are  the  forms  that  the  social  forces  of  the  Church 
practically  assume,  are  solely  responsible  for  the  religious  welfare  of 
these  institutions.  If  the  religious  status  of  the  University  of  Kansas 
is  not  satisfactory  to  the  churches  of  Kansas,  they  have  no  one  to 
blame  but  themselves.  They  have  a  definite  function,  which  by  reason 
of  inability  or  inattention  they  have  not  discharged.  If  the  churches 
are  to  meet  God  in  judgment,  and  answer  for  the  way  they  have  done 
the  work  given  them  to  do,  they  must  recognize  these  state  schools  as 
fields  for  their  labor. 

Are  the  churches  so  foolish  as  to  allow  these  young  people  to  escape 
them?  Do  they  imagine  that  they  can  afford  the  loss?  Why,  this  is 
the  best  material  the  country  affords!  I  can  testify  to  the  Christian 
fidelity  of  the  University  people,  and  assert  without  hesitation,  that 
with  the  same  amount  of  attention  and  wise  application  as  we  give  to 
the  people  outside  of  the  university,  the  former  will  outweigh  the 
latter  in  every  element  of  Christian  value. 

It  must,  of  course,  be  recognized  that  there  can  be  no  sharp  line 
drawn  between  the  religious  and  secular  in  education,  any  more  than 
elsewhere.     All  of  religion  has  secular  bearings,  and  everything  secular 

(180) 


63 

has  a  religious  side.  Nevertheless,  there  is  a  real  distinction  which 
we  all  must  recognize  between  religious  and  secular  education.  Relig- 
ious work  must  include: 

I.  The  presentation  to  the  student's  mind  of  specificallv  religious 
and  Christian  truth.  It  should  not  dogmatically  demand  that  certain 
propositions  be  accepted  without  question.  To  attempt  the  dog- 
matic in  a  state  university  is  to  fail  at  the  outset  and  irretrievably. 

II.  It  should  include  the  religious  interpretation  of  all  the  truth 
which  comes  to  the  minds  of  young  people  in  the  progress  of  their 
university  study.  At  this  point  young  people  are  overtaken  by  dis- 
aster. They  come  up  from  the  farm  and  village  home  with  a  fund  of 
theological  conceptions,  which  they  identify  with  the  realities  of  the 
faith.  Plunging  into  scientific,  historical,  and  critical  studies,  they 
soon  find  a  lack  of  congruity  betw^een  their  theological  preconceptions 
and  the  new  learning.  Being  perhaps  unable  to  resolve  the  difficulties 
and  having  nobody  to  do  it  for  them,  they  feel  bound  to  choose  between 
the  two.  They  cannot  part  with  the  new  knowledge,  so  they  abandon 
the  old  faith.  It  is  our  place  to  show  them  the  mistake  of  this,  and 
to  teach  them  how  to  harmonize  secular  and  religious  truth,  and  so 
hold  faith  in  the  bonds  of  knowledge. 

III.  Our  work  must  include  the  organization  of  religious  activi- 
ties for  the  development  of  the  religious  powers.  This  involves  the 
calling  into  this  work  of  men  specially  fitted  for  the  task.  These  must 
be  men  of  the  university  type,  i.  e.,  men  of  broad,  intellectual  outlook, 
and  sympathies  with  state  university  ideals.  It  is  not  worth  while  to 
put  into  this  work  men  who  rail  at  Evolution,  and  rejoice  in  their 
ignorance  of  Higher  Criticism.  Wholly  aside  from  the  merits  of  these 
views,  university  people  believe  that  they  have  merit  and  will  have 
naught  to  do  with  the  man  who  does  not  approach  them  with  an 
intelligent  and  sympathetic  spirit. 

The  fit  man  for  this  unique  work  will  have  a  personality  full  of 
virility  as  well  as  of  Christian  sweetness.  He  will  be  an  embodiment 
and  illustration  of  the  large  and  noble  ideals  for  which  his  work  stands. 
Such  a  worker  in  order  to  be  effective,  must  have  university  standing, 
without  being  a  member  of  the  faculty.  He  must  have  the  standing 
to  give  him  access  to  the  student  body,  without  being  officially  con- 
nected with  the  university,  for  the  work  must  never  feel  the  palsying 
hand  of  officialism.  The  very  secret  of  its  effectiveness  is  its  spon- 
taneity. And  while  it  should  choose  a  position  where  its  fruits  can  be 
garnered,  and  from  which  its  influences  can  permeate  the  whole  uni- 
versity life,  that  position  should  be  free  from  the  official  control  of  the 
university. 

The  work  must  have  a  relation  to  the  local  church  as  well ;  not  for 
the  sake  of  the  Church,  but  for  the  sake  of  the  work.  The  student 
should  never  be  the  instrument  of  the  Church  but  the  Church  the 

(181) 


64 

instrument  of  the  student.  The  specifically  university  work  should 
have  just  the  relation  to  the  local  Church  which  will  make  the  work 
most  effective,  and  no  more. 

Of  course,  the  details  of  this  work  are  still  to  be  wrought  out  in 
the  University  of  Kansas.  We  have  few  precedents  to  guide  us,  and 
no  experience ;  but  I  have  personally  done  enough  and  seen  enough  to 
be  sure  of  my  ground,  as  far  as  I  have  stated  it.  Of  the  ultimate 
outcome  I  have  no  fear.  The  work  will  succeed.  The  fruit  will  be  a 
type  of  strong,  robust,  Christian  men  and  women,  standing  four-square 
to  every  wind  of  heaven ;  able  to  solve  their  own  problems  and  to  meet 
their  own  difficulties;  fit  to  ennoble  the  state,  and  to  vitalize  the 
Church. 


THE     COOPERATION    OF    DENOMINATIONAL    AND    STATE 
SCHOOLS  OF  HIGHER  EDUCATION' 

Webster  Merrifield,  M.A. 
President,   University  of  North  Dakota,   University,  North  Dakota 

Fourteen  years  ago  in  my  annual  report  to  the  board  of  trustees 
of  the  state  university,  I  urged  the  importance  of  adopting  some  sys- 
tem of  educational  cooperation  between  the  state  universitv  and  the 
several  denominations  of  the  state  before  these  denominations  should 
become  hopelessly  committed  to  the  policy  of  separate  denominational 
colleges.  The  Congregationalists  had  already  established  a  college  at 
Fargo,  and  the  Methodists  were  agitating  the  question  of  establishing 
a  college  and  shortly  after  did  so  at  Wahpeton  in  my  state.  My 
trustees  took  no  action  in  the  matter  at  the  time  but,  during  the  years 
following,  I  discussed  the  matter  freely  with  representative  men  of  the 
several  denominations  in  our  state  as  opportunity  occurred.  Five 
years  ago  last  March,  in  an  address  before  the  Methodist  conference 
in  my  state,  I  canvassed  the  question  quite  fully  and  extended  to  the 
Methodists  of  the  state  a  formal  and  cordial  invitation  on  behalf  of 
the  state  university  to  remove  their  institution  to  a  location  in  the 
immediate  neighborhood  of  the  state  university  and  to  make  use  of 
the  facilities  afforded  by  the  university  to  whatever  extent  they  might 
deem  it  to  their  advantage  to  do  so.  Many  prominent  members  of 
the  conference  expressed  themselves  at  the  time,  as  did  President 
Robertson  of  the  Methodist  College,  as  in  a  general  way  favorable  to 
the  proposition,  but  stated  that  they  considered  themselves  under 
moral  obligation  to  the  citizens  of  Wahpeton  and  other  benefactors  of  v 
their  college  not  to  agitate  the  question  at  that  time.  Last  winter  the 
trustees  of  the  Methodist  College  at  Wahpeton,  whose  style  and  title 
was  the  Red  River  Valley  University,  began  to  consider  the  feasibility 

iln  the  preparation  of  this  paper  I  have  availed  myself  of  many  valuable  data  gathered  by  Dr. 
James  E.  Bovle  of  our  Department  of  Economics  during  the  recent  agitation  of  the  qxiestion  in  our 
State. 

(182) 


65 

of  removing  the  college  to  another  location.  I  again  renewed  my 
invitation  to  remove  the  college  to  the  immediate  neighborhood  of 
the  state  university  and  to  make  use  of  the  facilities  afforded  by  the 
university  for  the  carrying  on  of  their  educational  work.  Dr.  E.  P. 
Robertson,  president  of  the  Red  River  Valley  University,  visited  me 
on  the  ninth  of  January  last  for  the  purpose  of  discussing  a  possible 
plan  of  cooperation  between  the  Methodist  college  and  the  state  uni- 
versity in  case  the  Methodist  church  should  decide  to  take  advantage 
of  the  invitation  extended  through  me  by  the  state  university.  We 
finally  arrived  at  a  possible  basis  of  cooperation  which,  upon  the  sug- 
gestion of  Dr.  Robertson,  was  committed  to  writing  in  the  form  of  a 
memorandum  as  follows,  this  memorandum  bearing  the  date  of  Janu- 
ary 9,  1905:  "Memorandum:  Of  a  conversation  held  between  Presi- 
dent Merrifield,  of  the  University  of  North  Dakota,  and  President 
Robertson  of  the  Red  River  Valley  University,  with  reference  to  a 
tentative  plan  of  cooperation  between  the  State  University  and  the 
educational  institution  of  the  Methodist  church  in  North  Dakota. 

Whereas,  The  State  University  is  in  theory  the  university  of  all 
the  people  of  the  state,  and  is  supported  by  the  taxes  of  the  members 
of  the  several  denominations  as  well  as  of  the  other  citizens  of  the 
state,  it  would  seem  to  be  appropriate  and  fitting  that  the  churches 
of  the  several  denominations  in  the  state  should  avail  themselves  of 
the  privileges  which  belong  to  their  members  as  citizens  of  the  state 
and  should  use,  to  whatever  extent  may  seem  desirable  in  the  conduct 
of  their  educational  work,  the  facilities  afforded  by  the  State  Univer- 
sity. 

It  is  recognized  that  the  State  University  is  a  civic  institution  and 
has  for  its  mission  the  training  of  the  youth  of  the  state  for  efficient 
service  as  citizens.  It  is  recognized,  also,  that  the  distinctive  object 
of  the  church  in  maintaining  schools  of  its  own  is  to  insure  trained 
leadership  in  religious  and  denominational  work.  There  is,  therefore, 
logically,  no  conflict  between  their  respective  missions,  for  the  same 
young  people  are  to  serve  in  both  these  capacities.  These  two  mis- 
sions being  in  no  sense  antagonistic,  but  supplementary,  it  would  seem 
a  part  of  wise  economy  that  these  two  educational  agencies  should 
avail  themselves,  so  far  as  possible,  of  the  facilities  and  appliances  of 
each  other  in  working  out  of  their  respective  missions,  keeping  always 
in  view  the  principle  of  the  separation  of  church  and  state  in  so  far  as 
regards  the  control  and  expenditure  of  the  financial  resources  of  each. 

Accepting  the  foregoing  principles  as  fundamentally  sound,  the 
University  of  North  Dakota  cordially  invites  the  people  -of  the  various 
denominations  of  the  state  to  the  consideration  of  a  plan  under  which 
the  members  of  the  several  denominations,  while  preserving  their 
denominational  identity  and  maintaining  separate  institutions  for 
such  educational  work  as  they  may  deem  necessary,  shall  join  as  citi- 

(183) 


66 

zens  in  patronage  of  the  State  University  as  the  common  agency  of 
the  state. 

As  a  basis  of  cooperation  between  the  State  University  and  the 
Methodist  church  of  the  state,  the  following  suggestions  seem  practi- 
cable : 

1.  That  the  Methodist  church  change  the  name  of  its  institution 
from  Red  River  Valley  University  to  Wesley  College. 

2.  That  a  building  or  buildings  be  erected  in  near  proximity  to 
the  State  University  but  on  a  separate  campus,  to  include  a  Guild 
Hall,  such  recitation  rooms  as  may  be  required  for  the  work  proposed, 
possibly  dormitories  for  young  women  and  young  men,  and  a  presi- 
dent's house. 

3.  That  the  course  of  study  may  be:  (a)  Bible  and  Church  history, 
English  Bible,  New  Testament  Greek,  Hebrew,  Theism,  and  such  other 
subjects  as  the  college  may  elect  in  pursuance  of  its  purposes.  (6) 
A  brief  course  that  may  be  designated  as  a  Bible  Normal  course,  in- 
tended especially  to  fit  students  to  become  efificient  Sunday  school 
teachers  and  lay  workers,  and  upon  the  completion  of  which  certificates 
of  recognition  may  be  granted,  (c)  Instruction  in  music  and  elocution 
may  be  given  if  desired  and  appropriate  certificates  granted,  (d) 
Guild  Hall  lectures. 

4.  That  the  State  University  grant  for  work  done  in  subjects 
under  (a)  above,  such  credit  toward  the  B.  A.  degree  as  it  gives  to 
technical  work  done  in  its  own  professional  schools  and  to  work  done 
in  other  colleges  of  reputable  standing.  Likewise,  Wesley  College 
shall  give  credit  for  work  done  in  the  State  University  in  similar  man- 
ner as  preparation  for  any  degree  or  certificate  it  may  offer. 

5.  Each  institution  shall  have  full  control  of  the  discipline  of 
students  upon  its  own  grounds. 

6.  It  shall  be  deemed  proper  for  students  to  take  degrees  from 
both  institutions  if  they  so  desire. 

Webster  Merrifield, 
Edward  P.  Robertson." 
This  memorandum  was  subsequently  approved  by  the  faculty  of 
the  State  Universitv  with  the  following  proviso,  viz.,  "that  the  State 
University  shall  in  all  cases  be  the  judge  of  the  quality  of  work  to  be 
accepted  by  it  toward  the  B.  A.  degree  and  recognizes  the  right  of 
Wesley  College  to  be  the  judge  of  the  quality  of  work  to  be  accepted 
for  any  degrees  it  may  grant."  On  May  15th  last  the  trustees  of  the 
State  University  passed  the  following  resolution:  ''Resolved,  That 
the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  University  of  North  Dakota  extend  to  all 
educational  agencies  within  the  state  a  cordial  invitation  to  avail 
themselves  to  whatever  extent  may  seem  desirable  of  the  facilities  and 
appliances  afforded  by  the  University  for  the  working  out  of  their 
several    educational    purposes."     The    memorandum    just    quoted, 

(184) 


67 

together  with  the  resolutions  of  the  Faculty  and  Trustees,  constitute 
the  formal  invitation  of  the  State  University.  On  May  16th,  1905, 
the  Trustees  of  the  Red  River  Valley  University  voted  to  remove  the 
University  from  Wahpeton  to  a  location  adjoining  the  campus  of  the 
State  University  and  to  change  the  name  of  the  Methodist  school  from 
Red  River  Valley  University  to  Wesley  College,  it  being  understood 
that  when  Wesley  College  should  be  opened  it  should  be  substantially 
upon  the  basis  indicated  in  the  memorandum.  It  is  believed  that  the 
action  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Methodist  school  has  back  of  it 
the  substantial  sympathy  and  support  of  the  Methodist  church  of  our 
state.  Indeed,  no  longer  ago  than  Saturday  of  this  last  week,  the 
Methodist  Conference,  in  session  at  Fargo,  unanimously  endorsed  the 
action  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Red  River  Valley  University  in 
removing  the  institution  to  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  the  State 
University,  with  a  view  to  affiliation  with  the  same  upon  the  lines  laid 
down  in  the  memorandum  already  quoted,  and  pledged  to  the  new 
Wesley  College  the  enthusiastic  support  of  the  conference.  President 
Robertson  and  the  Trustees  of  Wesley  College  are  now  engaged  in 
raising  a  fund  of  $50,000  which,  with  the  previously  existing  resources 
of  Wesley  College,  will  constitute  a  fund  closely  approximating  $100,- 
000.  As  soon  as  this  fund  is  raised  it  is  the  plan  of  the  Trustees  to 
build,  on  a  site  adjoining  the  campus  of  the  State  University,  a  presi- 
dent's house,  probably  a  dormitory  each  for  the  young  men  and  young 
women  students  of  the  college,  and  a  building  which  may  be  used  for 
the  two-fold  purpose  of  a  recitation  hall  and  a  guild  hall.  Meanwhile, 
most  of  the  students  in  attendance  last  year  at  the  Red  River  Valley 
University  have  registered  as  regular  students  in  the  State  University. 
It  is  believed  that  the  step  taken  by  the  Methodists  will,  in  the  not 
distant  future,  be  followed  by  most,  if  not  all,  of  the  other  denomina- 
tions of  the  state.  The  best  known  representative  of  the  Congrega- 
tional church  in  the  state  has  recently  stated  that,  if  the  step  taken  by 
the  Methodists  proves  successful,  the  Congregational  college  will,  in 
his  judgment,  remove  to  the  State  University  within  ten  years.  The 
Baptists  of  the  state  have  already  placed  themselves  emphatically 
upon  record  as  favoring  the  plan  in  the  following  report  of  their  com- 
mittee on  education  adopted  in  their  annual  state  convention  held  at 
Fargo  in  June,  1901:  "The  question  is  sometimes  asked.  Ought  the 
Baptists  of  this  State  to  follow  the  example  of  the  Congregationalists 
and  Methodists  and  found  a  college  of  their  own?  Your  committee 
w^ould  say,  emphatically,  that  the  time  for  that  has  certainly  not 
come.  Indeed,  it  is  doubtful  if  it  ever  will  come.  The  situation  in 
these  new  western  states  is  very  different  from  what  it  was  in  the 
early  days  of  the  older  states  further  east.  There,  the  state  istelf 
made  little  or  no  provision  for  higher  education;  here,  the  state  makes 
ample  provision  along  both  liberal  and  professional  lines.     There  is 

(185) 


68 

no  such  thing  as  Baptist  mathematics,  or  Baptist  physics,  or  Baptist 
poHtical  economy.  To  found  another  institution  to  teach  these  and 
similar  subjects  would  be  to  throw  away  money  in  useless  duplication. 
The  State  University  belongs  to  the  Baptists  as  much  as  it  does  to 
anybody,  and  Baptists  ought  to  appreciate  and  patronize  it.  There 
are  several  Baptists  in  the  faculty,  and  we  are  glad  to  say  that  the 
atmosphere  of  the  University  is  sympathetically  and  unquestionably 
Christian.  It  may  be  that,  at  some  time  in  the  future,  it  will  be  wise 
to  establish  in  connection  with  the  University  a  Baptist  College,  not 
for  the  purpose  of  duplicating  courses  purely  scholastic,  but  for  the 
purpose  of  supplementing  the  ordinary  college  course  with  other 
studies,  such  as  Church  History,  Hebrew,  New  Testament  Greek, 
Biblical  Criticism,  Old  and  New  Testament  Exegesis,  and  Theology, 
which  of  course,  hardly  belong  in  the  province  of  a  State  University. 
In  this  way  our  denomination  might  utilize  the  laboratories  and 
libraries  and  skilled  instruction  provided  by  the  State,  and,  at  the 
same  time,  provide,  at  small  expense,  instruction  along  jeligious  and 
denominational  lines.  In  this  way,  too,  halls  and  dormitories  might 
be  provided  in  which  young  men  and  women,  while  attending  the 
University,  could  be  kept  under  the  influence  of  a  distinctly  religious 
atmosphere.  The  University  would  be  very  willing  to  make  such  an 
arrangement  with  our  denomination  and  it  seems  to  vour  committee 
that  this  is  an  idea  which  it  is  well  to  bear  in  mind  and  work  toward.  " 

Within  the  past  week  the  Presbyterian  Synod  in  my  state  has 
appointed  a  committee  of  six,  with  power  to  emplo}'"  a  clergyman  who 
shall  nominally  be  assistant  to  the  pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian 
Church  of  Grand  Forks  but  whose  duties  shall  practically  be  those  of 
Pastor  at  the  University,  having  under  his  especial  care  those  students 
in  the  University  who  are  communicants  or  adherents  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church.  It  is  believed  that  this  action  is  preliminary  to  the 
eventual  establishment  of  a  Presbvterian  Guild  Hall,  to  be  located  in 
the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  State  Universitv  campus.  This  action 
was  taken  by  the  Synod  with  unanimitvand,  I  am  told,  with  the  great- 
est enthusiasm,  and  places  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  North  Dakota 
directly  in  line  with  the  Methodists  in  the  matter  of  denominational 
and  state  cooperation  in  educational  work.  The  other  religious 
denominations  of  the  state  have  given  no  formal  expression  of  an 
intention  to  follow  the  lead  of  the  Methodists  and  Presbyterians,  but 
in  conversation  with  representative  men  of  these  denominations  I 
learn  that  their  attitude  is  entirely  favorable  to  a  similar  plan  of  co- 
operation with  the  State  University  and  that,  when  their  several 
churches  shall  be  in  a  position  to  start  schools  of  their  own,  these  will 
undoubtedly  be  located  in  near  proximity  to  the  State  University 
with  a  view  to  cooperation  with  that  institution. 

This,  in  brief,   constitutes  the  history  of  the  movement  toward 

(186) 


69 

cooperation  between  the  church  schools  and  the  State  University  in 
my  state.  That  this  is  but  an  incident  in  a  widespread  movement 
throughout  the  country  is  evidenced  by  the  following  examples  of 
cooperation  elsewhere :  The  oldest  experiment  in  the  way  of  coopera- 
tion is  that  at  the  State  University  of  Ontario,  known  as  the  University 
of  Toronto.  In  cooperation  with  the  University  there  are  five  de- 
nominational colleges,  viz.,  Methodist,  Church  of  England,  Presby- 
terian, Low  Anglican  and  Catholic.  Some  of  these  institutions  are 
affiliated  and  some  federated,  the  difference  being  that  federation  is 
an  act  of  parliament  and  affiliation  the  act  of  the  University  Senate. 
The  federated  college  becomes  an  integral  part  of  the  University, 
while  each  affiliated  college  has  a  single  representative  on  the  Univer- 
sitv  Senate  but  does  not  enter  in  any  organic  way  into  the  composition 
of  the  Universitv.  Of  all  the  cooperating  colleges,  Victoria  College, 
the  Methodist  school,  alone  undertakes  to  give  instruction  in  Arts  as 
well  as  in  Theology.  The  other  cooperating  schools  maintain  only 
a  theological  facultv.  All  the  institutions,  of  course,  spare  themselves 
the  burden  of  maintaining  museums,  laboratories  and  libraries.  The 
Methodist  school  alone  duplicates  any  portion  of  the  instruction 
offered  by  the  University.  In  proof  of  the  success  of  the  Toronto 
experiment  I  am  privileged  to  quote  from  a  recent  letter  from  Prin- 
cipal J.  P.  Sheraton  of  Wyckliffe  College,  representing  the  Church  of 
England,  who  writes  as  follows:  "The  plan  followed  here  has  worked 
verv  successfullv.  We  secure  for  our  students  all  the  advantages 
of  the  University,  the  broadening  of  view  and  enlarging  of  sympathy 
which  come  from  contact  with  some  two  thousand  students  in  Arts, 
Medicine  and  Theology,  belonging  to  a  number  of  different  colleges 
and  connected  with  a  number  of  churches.  We  are  preserved  from 
the  narrowness  of  an  isolated  theological  college,  and  our  men  come 
into  contact  with  men  of  all  churches  and  destined  for  various  pro- 
fessions, amongst  whom  their  life  work  must  be  carried  on.  We  get 
all  the  advantages  of  stimulus,  of  fellowship,  and  of  the  whole  atmos- 
phere of  the  University,  as  well  as  the  advantages  which  come  to  us 
from  the  equipment  and  facilities  which  a  great  University  like  that 
of  Toronto  is  able  to  give." 

I  quote  the  following  also  from  a  letter  recently  received  from  the 
President  of  Victoria  University,  the  Methodist  school  cooperating 
with  the  University  of  Toronto:  "We  think  our  system  gives  us  all 
the  advantages  to  be  derived  from  denominational  colleges  with  com- 
parative freedom  from  the  narrowing  influences  of  a  small  sectarian 
institution.  It  does  not  make  the  necessary  educational  work  unduly 
burdensome  to  the  church,  while  it  furnishes  the  sons  and  daughters 
of  the  church  with  the  best  educational  advantages  that  the  country 
can  afford.     At  the  same  time  it  surrounds  the  State  Universitv  with 


(187) 


70 

the  moral  and  religious  influences  of  the  churches  as  represented  by 
their  colleges. " 

Last  May,  in  response  to  an  invitation  from  the  University  of 
Manitoba,  I  attended  their  graduation  exercises  and  delivered  an 
address.  On  that  occasion  eighty-four  degrees  were  granted,  all  of 
them  to  young  men  and  young  women  who  were  primarily  students 
in  affiliated  colleges.  Of  these  colleges,  four  were  denominational, 
representing  respectively  the  Church  of  England,  Catholic,  Methodist 
and  Presbyterian  churches.  Thirty  of  the  graduates  were  in  medicine 
and  a  dozen  or  more  were  in  law.  Both  the  medical  and  the  law 
schools,  like  the  four  denominational  colleges  mentioned,  are  inde- 
pendently maintained,  but  are  affiliated  with  the  University  of  Mani- 
toba, which  alone  has  the  degree-conferring  power.  The  University, 
supported  by  moderate  appropriations  from  the  local  legislature, 
offers  courses  in  the  natural  sciences  and  maintains  scientific  labora- 
tories and  museums,  leaving  all  other  instruction  to  the  affiliated 
colleges.  The  University  Council,  which  is  the  governing  body  of 
the  University,  is  made  up  of  faculty  representatives  from  the  Uni- 
versity and  the  affiliated  schools.  The  titular  head  of  the  University 
is  a  Vice  Chancellor,  the  working  head  being  an  officer  known  as 
the  Registrar,  most  of  whose  duties  are  of  the  character  usually 
performed  by  the  Registrar  in  American  Universities.  Each  of  the 
affiliated  schools  is  charged  with  the  exercise  of  discipline  over  its 
own  students.  The  relationship  existing  at  the  University  of  Mani- 
toba is  in  almost  all  respects  strikingly  similar  to  that  existing  at 
Oxford  between  the  several  colleges  and  the  University. 

On  this  side  of  the  line  the  plan  of  cooperation  is  quite  different 
from  that  prevailing  on  the  Canadian  side,  owing  to  the  different  con- 
ception existing  in  the  United  States  as  to  the  propriety  of  an  entire 
separation  between  church  and  state  in  matters  of  education.  The 
plan  of  cooperation  between  church  and  state  schools  has  been  carried 
out  more  or  less  extensively  and  completely  in  six  American  common- 
wealths, viz.,  California,  Kansas,  Michigan,  Missouri,  Oregon  and 
West  Virginia.  An  example  of  cooperation  is  to  be  found  on  the 
largest  scale  at  the  University  of  California  where  the  Congregational 
church  has  established  a  well  endowed  theological  school  known  as 
the  Pacific  Theological  Seminary.  The  "Christian"  denomination 
has  also  established  a  theological  school  in  cooperation  with  the 
University.  The  Baptists,  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  South, 
and  the  Unitarians  are  all  moving  in  this  direction  and  have  already 
raised  for  the  purpose,  sums  ranging  from  $30,000  to  $250,000  each. 
All  these  denominations  contemplate  the  establishment  of  theological 
schools  to  be  grouped  about  the  State  University  and  to  work  in 
friendly  cooperation  with  it.  The  Presbyterians  have  a  theological 
school  located  some  ten  miles  from  the  University  across  the  bay,  but 

(188) 


71 

it  is  their  plan,  as  soon  as  they  shall  be  able  to  dispose  of  their  buildings 
there,  to  remove  to  the  State  University  and  cooperate  with  it  in  the 
same  manner  as  the  other  denominations  named.  President  Wheeler 
in  a  recent  letter  says:  "The  cooperation  consists  mainly  in  this,  that 
all  students  in  the  seminaries  make  free  use  of  the  University's  oppor- 
tunities. They  can  be  registered  as  students  and  take  such  courses 
in  the  University  as  their  own  professors  recommend.  It  is  usual, 
for  instance,  for  these  students  to  attend  our  classes  in  Semitic  Philo- 
logy, Philosophy,  History,  English  Literature,  etc." 

At  the  University  of  Michigan  the  "Christian"  church  has,  since 
1893,  maintained  what  are  known  as  the  Ann  Arbor  Bible  Chairs  for 
the  purpose  of  providing  instruction  of  University  grade  in  the  Bible. 
They  have  one  building  and  a  small  but  well  trained  faculty.  More 
than  1,700  students  have  taken  one  or  more  of  these  Bible  courses 
since  the  chairs  were  established.  The  Episcopal  and  Baptist 
churches  both  maintain  guild  halls  at  the  University  for  the  benefit 
of  students  of  their  respective  communions.  The  Episcopal  and 
Baptist  churches  have  also  for  some  time  maintained  guild  halls  for 
the  oversight  of  students  of  their  respective  communions  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  West  Virginia  and  the  Presbyterian  church  of  that  state  is 
moving  in  the  same  direction.  Did  time  permit  I  should  be  pleased 
to  speak  in  detail  of  what  the  "Christian"  church,  the  Northern  and 
Southern  Presbyterians  and  the  Episcopalians  have  done  and  are 
doing  at  the  University  of  Missouri ;  what  the  Baptists  have  done  and 
plan  to  do  at  the  University  of  Washington;  what  the  Episcopalians, 
the  Lutherans  and  Presbyterians  are  doing  in  Nebraska;  what  the 
Presbyterians  have  just  done  in  Kansas,  and  what  the  Congregation- 
alists  are  planning  to  do  at  the  University  of  Wisconsin.  I  may  note 
in  passing  that  on  January  11th,  1905,  two  days  after  the  date  of  the 
memorandum  between  the  President  of  the  State  University  and  the 
President  of  the  Methodist  school  in  North  Dakota,  the  Northwestern 
Christian  advocate  of  Chicago  published  the  report  of  a  committee  of 
three,  consisting  of  the  presiding  elder  of  the  Champaign  district,  the 
pastor  of  Parks  Chapel  in  this  city,  and  Professor  T.  J.  Burrill  of  the 
University  of  Illinois,  addressed  to  the  members  of  the  Methodist 
church  of  Illinois  and  recommending,  in  terms  almost  identical  in 
part  with  those  of  the  North  Dakota  memorandum,  the  establishment 
of  a  denominational  college  to  be  known  as  Wesley  College  in  connec- 
tion with  the  State  University  of  Illinois.  Similarly,  at  the  last  ses- 
sion of  the  synod  of  Illinois,  held  in  Springfield  last  October,  a  com- 
mittee was  appointed  to  consider  the  relations,  or  perhaps  better,  the 
duties,  if  any,  that  existed  between  the  Presbyterian  church  of  Illi- 
nois and  the  body  of  Presbyterian  students  at  the  University.  This 
committee  has  already  prepared  a  plan  which  contemplates  the  plac- 
ing of  a  good  man  at  the  University  to  look  after  the  interests  of  the 

(189) 


72 

Presbyterian  students.  This  is  for  the  immediate  future.  Ultimately, 
however,  it  is  hoped  to  found  a  theological  seminary  of  a  nature  best 
fitted  to  supplement  the  University  work.  In  October,  1901,  the 
Congregational  church  of  America  at  its  triennial  council  held  in 
Portland,  Maine,  passed  the  following  resolution:  "Resolved,  That 
this  council  regards  with  favor  the  project  of  establishing  foundations 
of  a  religious  character  in  connection  with  our  great  state  universities, 
whose  purpose  shall  be  to  provide  pastoral  care,  religious  instruction 
and  helpful  Christian  influence  to  the  students  there  assembled,  and 
we  heartily  commend  this  enterprise  to  those  of  generous  spirit  as 
in  the  highest  degree  worthy  of  their  sympathy  and  their  gifts." 
Numerous  other  instances  might  be  cited  of  resolutions  passed  and 
tentative  action  taken  by  representative  bodies  of  the  different  relig- 
ious denominations  looking  to  some  form  of  cooperation  between  these 
denominations  and  our  great  and  rapidlv  growing  state  universities, 
but  sufficient  instances  have  been  cited  to  show  that  the  movement  is 
general  throughout  the  country  and  that  the  great  religious  denomi- 
nations of  America  are  coming  to  recognize  not  onlv  their  duty  to 
the  great  numbers  of  young  people  of  their  several  communions 
enrolled  as  students  at  our  state  universities,  but  the  expediency  from 
every  point  of  view  of  changing  their  old-time  attitude,  often  one  of 
neutrality,  sometimes  one  of  positive  hostility  toward  the  state  uni- 
versity into  one  of  friendly  cooperation.  Perhaps  I  cannot  better 
give  expression  to  the  changed  and  changing  attitude  of  the  great 
religious  denominations  of  the  country  toward  our  state  universities 
than  by  quoting  briefly  from  a  pamphlet  recently  issued  by  President 
Robertson  of  Wesley  College,  North  Dakota,  apropos  of  the  new 
policy  adopted  by  the  Methodist  church  in  our  state:  "In  the  last 
analysis,  those  who  found  the  state  university  and  those  who  found 
church  colleges  are  one  and  the  same  people.  It  is  clear  that  all 
citizens  united  can  give  the  state  university  richer  endowment  by 
common  taxation  than  groups  of  citizens  can  give  denominational 
colleges  by  private  donation.  It  is  also  perfectly  clear  that  by  the 
complete  separation  of  the  state  university  from  church  colleges  the 
larger  relative  importance  given  to  religious  instruction  will  be  in  the 
church  colleges,  and,  consequently,  from  them  may  be  expected  the 
larger  religious  and  denominational  returns." 

"Grant  both  propositions  and  what  have  we  still  but  an  irrational 
separation  of  two  agencies  founded  bv  the  same  people  for  their  sons 
and  daughters,  who  are  exhorted  to  attend  the  church  school  for 
religious  advantages,  and  urged  to  attend  the  state  university  because 
of  superior  equipment.  *  *  *  "To  relate  these  two  activities  in 
time  and  place  is  the  dictate  of  reason  and  common  interest.  *  *  * 
Good  citizens  want  their  youth  to  be  loyal  to  the  church,  and  good 
church  men  are  men  of  civic  devotion.     To  be  compelled  to  choose 

(190) 


16 

between  church  and  state  loyalty  in  selecting  a  college  home  for  the 
son  or  daughter  has  caused  deep  perplexity.  The  new  idea  solves 
the  difficulty.  Civic  pride  and  religious  devotion  join  in  one  call  to 
the  highest  type  of  culture  and  for  the  service  and  honor  of  the  state 
and  church."  This  quotation  from  President  Robertson  may  be 
accepted  as  representing  the  attitude  of  the  more  progressive  element 
of  the  Christian  Church  in  American  to-day. 

In  the  following  respects  it  is  believed  that  the  movement  which 
has  been  inaugurated  in  North  Dakota  touches  high-water  mark  in 
the  general  movement  toward  state  and  denominational  cooperation 
in  educational  work. 

1.  There  will  be  no  duplication  of  work  in  the  two  institutions. 

2.  A  vear's  work,  quasi  theological  in  character,  done  by  the 
students  of  Wesley  College  in  their  own  institution  may  be  credited 
toward  the  B.  A.  degree  in  the  State  University.  This  concession 
the  State  University  can  safely  make,  for  it  retains  full  right  to  judge 
of  the  quality  of  work  done  in  the  other  institution,  while  denomi- 
national pride  and  interest  alike  will  prompt  the  cooperating  institu- 
tion to  make  its  work  of  a  character  to  compare  favorably  with  that 
done  in  the  State  University.  The  subjects  for  which  credit  may  be 
given  by  the  State  University,  while  not  perhaps  the  conventional 
academic  subjects,  have  yet  had  long  and  honorable  recognition  in 
the  curricula  of  some  of  the  oldest  and  most  honored  colleges  in  the 
land.  In  these  days  of  broad  electives  who  shall  say  that  the  study 
of  New  Testament  Greek,  Church  History,  Bible  History,  Biblical 
literature  and  the  Evidences  of  Christianity  is  not  as  truly  educational 
and  may  not  as  truly  contribute  to  liberal  culture  as  many  of  the 
electives  offered  by  our  state  universities  in  their  B.  A.  or  equivalent 
courses?  It  is  now  generally  admitted  by  educational  leaders  that  it 
is  the  method  of  study  rather  than  the  content  studied  that  determines 
educational  values. 

3.  The  affiliated  college,  by  retaining  its  degree-conferring  power, 
retains  thereby  in  large  measure  its  independent  identity  and  there  is 
thus  removed  one  of  the  strongest  objections  urged  by  denominational 
schools,  already  established,  against  affiliation.  To  what  extent  this 
independent  degree-conferring  power  will  be  exercised  by  the  affiliated 
school  in  practice  is,  of  course,  yet  to  be  determined.  In  any  event, 
as  three-fourths  of  the  work  on  which  its  degree,  if  granted,  will  be 
based  will  have  to  be  done  in  the  State  University  and  the  remaining 
one-fourth  must  be  of  a  quality  to  be  approved  by  the  State  Univer- 
sity, there  is  little  fear  that  the  degree  of  the  affiliated  college,  if 
granted  at  all,  will  be  discredited  or  will  represent  a  low  standard  of 
attainment  on  the  part  of  its  recipients. 

The  great  ends  to  be  gained  by  the  cooperation  of  state  and  church 
schools  are,  of  course,  economv  and  a  wise  conservation  of  energy. 

(191) 


74 

The  gain  in  economy  alone  ought  to  be  decisive.  The  members  of 
this  conference  certainly  do  not  need  to  be  reminded  that  modern 
institutions  of  higher  education  are  exceedingly  costly  enterprises. 
Four  of  our  state  universities  received  during  the  last  school 
year  incomes  in  excess  of  half  a  million  each;  nine  an  income  in 
excess  of  a  quarter  of  a  million  each ;  and  twenty-four  an  in- 
come in  excess  of  $100,000  each.  Fifteen  of  them  possess  plants 
representing  an  investment  of  more  than  a  million  dollars  each.  Were 
the  different  church  schools  in  each  commonwealth  to  group  them- 
selves about  the  State  University  their  students  would  receive  the 
same  instruction  as  those  of  the  State  University  without  a  penny  of 
cost  to  the  several  denominations  and  with  only  an  insignificant  in- 
crease of  cost  to  the  state.  The  children  of  the  church  schools  would  be 
under  exactly  the  same  religious  instruction  and  influence  as  at  present, 
while  receiving  in  addition  the  inspiration  which  comes  from  the  vigor- 
ous intellectual  life  of  the  whole  University.  For  students  in  a  theo- 
logical seminary  such  a  connection  is  especially  valuable,  tending  as 
it  does  to  make  them  broad  and  tolerant  and  affording  an  intellectual 
stimulus  which  no  detached  theological  seminary  can  offer.  This  in- 
fluence, indeed,  is  reciprocal,  the  life  of  the  University  gaining,  per- 
haps, in  spiritual  quickening  and  uplift  quite  as  much  as  it  contributes 
in  the  way  of  intellectual  stimulus. 

One  of  the  weightiest  arguments  for  cooperation  is  one,  until 
recently,  rarely  urged,  viz.,  the  distinctly  religious  influence  which  the 
churches  would  in  this  way  bring  to  bear  upon  the  great  body  of  young 
people,  many  of  them  from  homes  not  conspicuously  religious,  who 
are  receiving  their  training  in  our  state  universities.  It  seems  to  me 
that  no  such  opportunity  for  effective  home  missionary  work  was  ever 
before  presented  to  our  great  religious  denominations  and  the  field  is 
one  which  will  be  constantly  and  rapidly  widening.  The  growth  of 
our  state  universities  is  certainly  one  of  the  startling  phenomena  of 
our  time.  During  the  ten  years  from  1895  to  1905  the  eight  leading 
colleges  of  New  England, — Amherst,  Bowdoin,  Brown,  Dartmouth, 
Harvard,  Williams,  Wesleyan,  and  Yale,  all  founded  as  denomina- 
tional colleges,  increased  their  attendance  twenty-eight  per  cent. 
The  eight  representative  colleges  of  the  north  central  states,  Beloit, 
Carleton,  Cornell,  Hinsdale,  Iowa  College,  Lawrence,  Ripon  and 
Knox, — all  denominational  colleges  and  all  competitors,  as  the  New 
England  colleges  were  not,  of  strong  state  universities,  decreased 
their  attendance  about  one  per  cent.  During  the  same  period  the 
eight  representative  state  universities, — California,  Illinois,  Iowa, 
Kansas,  Michigan,  Minnesota,  Nebraska,  and  Wisconsin,  increased 
their  attendance  more  than  ninety-three  per  cent.  The  total  attend- 
ance in  the  eight  state  universities  named  was  eighty-six  per  cent, 
greater  than  that  of  the  sixteen  denominational  colleges  together,  and 

(192) 


far  more  than  twice  as  great  if  we  omit  the  enrollment  in  the  prepara- 
tory departments  of  the  eight  denominational  colleges  of  the  north 
central  division  of  states.  These  statistics  are  cited  with  no  invidious 
intent,  but  simply  to  show  what  a  magnificent  opportunity  our  great 
religious  denominations  have  to  impress  themselves  religiously  upon 
the  voung  men  and  young  women  who,  in  rapidly  increasing  numbers, 
are  thronging  the  halls  of  our  great  state  universities.  In  our  older 
communities  where  the  different  denominations  have  large  sums  tied 
up  in  costly  and  elaborate  plants,  the  difficulties  of  such  a  union  as  I 
have  suggested  are  not  to  be  underrated ;  but  in  all  our  newer  western 
states  where  several  of  the  great  denominations  have  not  yet  started 
schools  of  their  own  and  where  no  denomination  has  as  yet  spent  any 
considerable  sum  in  buildings  and  equipment,  the  question  I  have 
raised  is  at  least  worthy  of  the  most  careful  consideration.  Should 
the  churches  respond  to  the  invitations  for  cooperation  which  have 
been  extended  bv  most,  if  not  all,  of  our  state  universities,  they  will 
find  there  no  uncongenial  atmosphere.  No  more  vigorous  Christian 
Associations  of  young  people  are  to  be  found  anywhere  than  at  our 
state  universities.  As  a  communicant  of  one  of  our  great  religious 
denominations  and  at  the  same  time  as  one  who  has  seen  much  of 
student  life  at  many  of  our  great  western  state  universities,  I  repudiate 
with  President  Northrop  the  imputation  "that  our  state  institutions 
of  higher  learning  are  not  religious  in  the  best  sense  of  the  word,  and 
that  their  graduates  do  not  go  out  into  life  with  as  genuine  a  respect 
for  Christianity  and  as  good  a  conception  of  what  Christianity  is  as 
the  students  of  any  institution  in  the  land.  "  I  have  at  hand  no  data, 
if  such  exists,  to  show  what  proportion  of  the  professors  and  instructors 
in  our  state  universities  are  communicants  of  Christian  churches,  but 
I  know  that  in  my  own  institution,  out  of  thirty-five  members  of  our 
general  faculty  (not  including  our  professional  schools)  all  but  one  are 
communicants  of  a  Christian  church.  A  recent  census  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  North  Dakota  showed  all  but  twelve  and  one-half  per  cent, 
of  the  students  reached  to  be  professing  Christians  and  church  mem- 
bers. A  religious  census  of  our  state  universities  taken  by  Professor 
Kelsey  of  the  Universitv  of  Michigan  some  years  ago  showed  fifty-seven 
and  one-half  per  cent,  of  the  students  in  the  leading  state  universities 
of  the  country  to  be  communicants  of  Christian  churches.  Of  course, 
a  very  large  proportion  of  the  remaining  forty-two  and  one-half  per 
cent,  were  church  adherents  and  regular  church  attendants.  It  is 
stated,  on  what  should  be  good  authority,-  that  in  each  of  our  great 
western  state  universities  with  possibly  two  exceptions,  each  religious 
denomination  in  the  state  is  represented  by  a  larger  number  of  com- 
municants among  the  student  body  than  are  to  be  found  in  its  own 
church  college  in  the  same  state.  If  this  is  true,  it  would  seem  to 
afford  sufficient  reason  why  the  denominations  should  begin  to  do 

(193) 


76 

something,  in  a  systematic  way,  toward  looking  after  the  spiritual 
welfare  of  that  important  part  of  their  membership  which  is  to  be 
found  in  the  State  Universities. 

No  one,  of  course,  may  undertake  to  say  what  is  the  comparative 
value  in  God's  sight  of  two  human  souls.  But  in  view  of  the  parable 
of  the  talents  one  may  be  permitted  to  entertain  the  belief  that  the 
very  flower  of  our  American  youth,  who  are  to  be  found  in  our  State 
Universities  to-day,  are,  individual  for  individual,  in  the  sight  of  God, 
worthy  of  as  much  attention  from  our  great  religious  denominations 
as  are  the  naked  savages  who  roam  the  jungles  of  Africa  and  the  bar- 
baric or  semi-civilized  hordes  who  swarm  on  the  plains  of  China  or  the 
banks  of  the  Ganges.  This  conference  affords  gratifying  evidence  that, 
in  the  matter  of  our  State  Universities  our  churches  are  awakening  to 
a  sense  of  their  higher  duty  and  splendid  opportunity. 


DISCUSSION 

W.  J.  Lahamon,  A.m. 
Dean  of  the  Bible  College  of  Missouri,  Columbia,  Missouri 

I  wish  simply  to  make  a  statement  of  the  movement  in  adjustment 
to  the  University  of  Missouri. 

The  work  was  begun,  as  I  remember,  about  nine  years  ago  in  a 
series  of  lectures  by  Dr.  W.  T.  Moore,  recently  returned  from  London. 
Four  years  ago,  I  was  called  to  assist  him  in  the  work,  and  later  I  was 
placed  at  the  head  of  it.  During  these  nine  years  we  have  succeeded 
in  endowing  the  institution  to  the  amount  of  fifty  thousand  dollars, 
and  we  now  have  property  that  represents  thirty-five  to  forty  thousand 
dollars.  Last  March  we  completed  the  erection  of  a  most  beautiful 
and  commodious  building  on  a  lot  directly  east  of  the  university 
campus  and  immediately  across  the  street  from  the  academic  building 
of  the  university.  A  speaker  preceding  me  referred  to  buildings  of  this 
sort  that  should  not  only  accornmodate  the  Bible  College  movement, 
but  should  be  used  also  as  dormitories.  This  is  our  plan  precisely. 
By  adjusting  our  work  to  the  University  of  Missouri  in  such  a  way  that 
we  can  send  our  young  men  into  the  university  for  all  of  their  academic 
work,  we  are  enabled  to  confine  our  biblical  and  our  ministerial  work  in  a 
comparatively  small  space.  We  can  put  this  work  on  the  first  floor  of 
our  building  for  years  to  come.  We  devote  the  second  and  third 
stories  of  the  building  to  dormitories.  We  have  thirty  rooms  in  the 
building  for  occupancy  by  students,  and  these  rooms  are  all  filled  at 
present.  The  building,  therefore,  is  netting  us  a  rather  handsome 
income.  The  gross  income  from  it  will  be  not  far  from  twenty-five 
hundred  dollars  a  year. 

In  addition  to  this,  we  are  furnishing  a  commodious,  and  moral 
and  ethical  home,  a  home  surrounded  with  Christian  and  ethical 
influences,  for  a  large  body  of  young  men. 

(194) 


77 

1  have  already  indicated  to  you  that  we  are  incorporated  as  a 
college.  It  is  our  aim  to  put  the  work  in  this  college  on  a  par  with  the 
work  in  the  colleges  of  the  University  of  Missouri,  so  that  ultimately 
we  hope  we  shall  be  able  to  receive  credits  in  the  Universitv  of  Missouri 
for  work  done  in  the  Bible  College  of  Missouri,  while  we  ourselves  are 
already  giving  credits  to  young  men  who  come  to  us  from  the  Univer- 
sity of  Missouri. 

The  young  men  who  enter  our  college  to  make  preparation  for  the 
ministry  take,  as  I  have  said,  all  their  academic  and  scientific  and 
philosophical  work  in  the  University  of  Missouri.  It  is  simply  a 
matter  of  adjustment. 

I  have  been  asked  since  I  came  into  your  communitv  what  relation- 
ship we  bear  to  the  University  of  Missouri,  and  I  always  answer, 
"officially  none. "  We  feel  that  there  should  be  no  official  connection 
between  the  denominational  school  and  the  state  school.  Our  insti- 
tution is  w^holly  our  own ;  it  is  managed  by  our  own  teachers  and  trus- 
tees, and  is  simply  in  adjustment  to  the  university.  There  is  simply 
the  relationship  of  hospitality  between  these  two  institutions,  and  I 
may  say  that  as  far  as  I  know  all  the  members  of  the  faculty  of  the 
University  of  Missouri  have  been  wholly  courteous  and  hospitable  to 
the  movement. 

I  would  like  to  speak  on  some  of  the  propositions  that  were  made 
on  the  floor  to-day.  It  was  suggested,  for  instance,  that  the  religious 
need  of  state  universities  might  be  met  by  university  pastors,  and  it 
was  still  further  suggested  that  the  religious  needs  might  be  met  also 
by  the  religious  character  of  the  instructors  in  the  state  universities. 
I  feel  justified  in  suggesting  to  you  this  evening  that  while  all  of  this  is 
good  as  far  as  it  goes,  there  is  a  large  field  of  biblical  work  that  cannot 
be  done  by  university  professors  from  their  chairs  and  that  cannot  be 
done  by  university  pastors.  The  Bible  demands  specialists  for  its 
presentation,  and  university  pastors  as  such  can  scarcely  be  expected 
to  engage  in  this  work,  and  however  Christlike  the  instructors  in  our 
state  universities  may  be  they  cannot  do  it  for  obvious  reasons. 

We  believe  it  is  competent  for  us  to  build  our  church  schools,  col- 
leges, theological  seminaries,  whatever  they  may  be  called,  in  prox- 
imity, as  has  been  said,  to  the  state  universities,  and  to  do  a  work  that 
shall  compare  favorably  with  the  work  that  is  being  done  in  the 
universities,  and  successfully  to  commend  biblical  and  ministerial 
work  to  the  young  men  and  women  who  are  thronging  our  state  uni- 
versity centers  in  increasing  numbers.  There  must  be,  in  such  centers, 
the  presentation  of  biblical  truth  in  academic  ways,  and  there  arises, 
therefore,  the  necessity  for  such  institutions  as  this. 

It  has  been  suggested  that  one  great  theological  institution  or 
biblical  institution  would  meet  the  needs  better  than  a  number  of 
small  ones.      I  should  heartily  concur  in  that  opinion  if  it  were  not  an 

(195) 


78 

impossibility  for  the  present.  If  it  were  possible  for  us  all  to  unite 
as  biblical  students  and  teachers,  without  reference  to  denominationa 
predilections  in  great  institutions,  that  would  be  very  much  better, 
but  it  is  a  far-off  event.  We  must  necessarily  limit  ourselves  to 
present  possibilities. 

We  are  reaching  between  two  and  three  hundred  students  in  the 
University  of  Missouri  and  in  other  institutions  in  Columbia.  I  have 
a  class  numbering  from  forty  to  fifty  in  the  Normal  Academy  in  Co- 
lumbia, managed  and  owned  by  Professor  George  H.  Beasley,  who  is  a 
Methodist.  I  go  to  this  class  once  a  week  with  a  lecture  on  the  life  of 
Jesus  and  on  New  Testament  history.  I  have  a  class  of  thirty  young 
women  who  are  taking  lecture  work  in  Christian  College.  We  have 
over  a  hundred  students  of  the  University  of  Missouri  signed  up  with 
us  for  work  in  such  lines  as  Old  and  New  Testament  History,  the 
literature  of  the  Bible,  the  legislation  of  the  Hebrews,  and  similar 
courses.  My  colleague,  Prof.  Charles  Manford  Sharpe,  has  charge  of 
the  work  in  the  Old  Testament,  and  is  conducting  a  number  of  suc- 
cessful classes.  I  have  a  friend  in  Columbia  who  was  an  ardent  ad- 
mirer of  Thomas  Jefferson,  and  I  have  been  assured  by  him  that  in  the 
United  States  at  least,  the  idea  of  adjusting  biblical  work  to  our  state 
universities  originated  with  that  great  man.  The  plan  is  familiar  to 
those  of  us  who  have  been  on  the  other  side  of  the  line,  in  Canada.  I 
understand  it  is  the  rule  in  Australia,  and  I  join  with  many  of  you  here 
this  evening  in  the  hope  that  it  shall  be  so  in  America  at  no  distant 
date. 


Reverend  William  S.  Marquis,  D.D. 
Moderator  of  the  Illinois  Synod  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  Rock  Island, 

Illinois 

It  is  significant  that  in  a  week  of  festivities  and  exercises  such  as 
you  have  enjoyed  in  the  inauguration  of  the  president  of  the  state 
university,  one  day  should  be  given  to  this  subject.  And  these  re- 
ports which  we  hear  from  every  direction,  of  a  common  movement 
upon  this  subject,  indicates  that  it  is  a  real  problem, — a  somewhat 
acute  problem, — and  reveals  the  American  manner  of  solving  it.  I 
rejoice  sincerely  that  it  also  reveals  the  spirit  of  unity  and  freedom 
among  Christian  brethren,  that  they  can  meet  and  discuss  this  prob- 
lem. 

A  committee  was  appointed  one  year  ago  by  the  Synod  of  Illinois 
to  investigate  this  subject;  to  inquire  what  we,  as  a  denomination  in 
this  commonwealth,  could  do  for  the  students  from  our  own  homes  in 
the  state  university.  We  recognized  the  fact  that  there  was  a  large 
Christian  influence  here;  we  recognized  the  faithful  work  of  our 
churches  in  these  two  cities  and  of  their  pastors;  we  recognized,  and 

(196) 


79 

have  been  helping  to  support,  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association 
which  has  been  doing  such  magnificent  work  in  this  direction, — a 
work  in  which  we  are  all  interested  and  united.  But  we  felt  that 
there  was  something  more  needed ;  and  so  this  committee  was  appointed 
to  seek  for  the  solution.  It  brought  in  its  report  to-dav,  and  as  the 
result  of  that  report,  this  resolution  was  adopted: 

"That  the  Synod  take  steps  to  employ  immediately  a  suitable 
man  for  religious  work  among  the  students  of  the  University  of  Illi- 
nois, whose  duties  shall  be  to  give  a  course  in  biblical  instruction  to 
such  students  as  will  take  it,  and,  as  a  student  pastor,  to  bring  to 
bear  all  possible  personal  influence  for  a  Christian  life  upon  the  in- 
dividual student. 

"Second,  that  arrangements  be  made  to  establish  at  or  convenient 
to  the  university  a  weekly  or  bi-weekly  preaching  service,  and  to 
secure  for  it  the  ablest  preachers  possible  from  the  Presbvterian  pulpit, 
especially  of  Illinois,  pending  the  securing  of  the  student  pastor. 

"Third,  w^e  recommend  also  that  your  committee  on  Christian 
education  be  instructed  to  take  steps  to  secure  a  fund- sufficient  for  the 
support  of  the  student  pastor,  and  to  take  charge  of  this  whole  matter 
together  with  such  sub-committee  as  it  may  deem  necessary." 

As  you  will  observe,  this  is  but  a  beginning.  It  is  in  the  direction 
of  some  experiments  of  which  you  have  heard,  and  perhaps  will  hear 
more  to-night.  It  is  not  so  ambitions  a  step  as  that  of  which  we  have 
just  been  hearing  from  in  Dakota  and  in  Missouri.  It  is  the  same 
step  which  I  understand  was  taken  yesterday  by  the  Baptist  Asso- 
ciation of  Illinois,  and  we  trust  it  will  be  productive  of  great  good. 
I  may  say  that  the  idea  of  the  "Affiliated  Christian  College,"  which 
has  been  presented  here  to-night  is  the  idea  which  I  have  longed  to  see 
adopted.  I  speak  now  as  an  individual,  not  as  the  representative  of 
the  Synod.  I  can  but  hope  that  these  beginnings, — such  as  the  reso- 
lutions of  our  Synod  and  of  the  Baptist  Association  contemplate, — 
may  grow  into  this  higher  ideal, — the  "Affiliated  Christian  College." 
It  has  been  spoken  of  as  "chimerical ; "  but  let  us  keep  on  thinking  and 
talking  about  it  until  it  has  been  realized.  Let  us  set  it  before  our 
minds  as  the  thing  to  be  achieved, — a  Christian  college  representing 
all  branches  of  the  Christian  Church;  in  which  each  denomination 
shall  have  its  individual  professor,  or  professors,  to  do  its  distinctive 
work,  but  wherein  the  points  we  hold  in  common  will  be  taught  in 
common.  Thus  united  Christianity  will  stand  beside  the  state  uni- 
versity emphasizing  in  a  material  way  and  in  an  educational  way  the 
real  unity  of  the  Christian  Church. 

It  has  been  said  that  "visions  are  essential  to  tasks."  We  know 
it  is  so.  No  man  ever  climbed  to  the  glittering  peak  of  a  mountain 
unless  a  vision  of  himself  as  the  conqueror  of  nature  led  him  on.  No 
man  ever  attains  to  the  heights  of  learning  without  a  similar  vision. 

(197) 


80 

And  this  vision  of  a  great  united  Christian  College  standing  beside  the 
state  university  and  affiliated  with  it,  is  a  vision  worthy  to  be  cherished 
that  it  mav  be  attained.  It  is  the  visoin  of  the  motto  written  on  the 
walls  of  this  church.  The  vision  set  before  us  in  the  chapter  read, — a 
vision  of  Christ  the  ideal  man,  whose  character  is  the  goal  of  all  true 
education. 

"There  is  no  such  thing,"  sa3's  a  great  educator,  "as  physical 
education,  or  intellectual  education  or  spiritual  education."  it  is  only 
when  you  combine  all  of  these  that  you  have  true  education.  That 
is  what  we  all  desire ;  it  is  what  we  are  all  seeking  in  the  plans  discussed 
in  this  conference.  The  Synod  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  Illinois 
is  grateful  for  an  opportunity  to  have  a  voice  in  your  deliberations  and 
to  lay  before  you  the  action  which  has  been  taken  to-day. 


David  Ross  Boyd,  Ph.D. 
President,  the  University  of  Oklahoma,  Norman,  Oklahoma 

I  represent  a  small  state  unversity,  say  of  six  hunderd  to  a  thousand 
students.  The  attempt  was  made  at  the  University  of  Oklahoma  the 
year  of  its  organization,  by  the  Methodists,  to  establish  a  Hall,  but  it 
failed  because  of  the  necessity  that  the  Methodist  church  was  under 
at  that  time  of  using  all  the  money  that  it  had  at  its  command  in 
establishing  its  churches  and  in  taking  care  of  the  people  that  were 
settling  in  the  new  country.  Since  then  the  development  of  the  Terri- 
tory of  Oklahoma  has  been  so  rapid  in  population  that  this  condition 
has  continued.  There  have  been  some  attempts  at  founding  educa- 
tional institutions,  but  none  as  yet  have  been  established  so  as  to  have 
a  real  footing.  We  are  therefore  in  the  condition  of  having  almost  all 
the  education  of  higher  grade  administered  by  state  institutions.  We 
have  the  state  university,  the  agricultural  and  mechanical  college  and 
three  normal  schools,  with  an  aggregate  attendance  of  about  thirty- 
five  hundred  students.  The  number  of  students  in  the  communion 
of  any  one  denomination  or  preferring  any  one  denomination  is  so 
small  that  it  would  not  be  practical  for  a  separate  student  pastor  to 
be  provided,  as  has  been  planned  for  larger  institutions.  But  the 
local  pastors  in  a  small  town  such  as  ours,  and  as  I  remember  the  new 
universities  in  territories  and  in  a  number  of  the  western  states  are  in 
towns  not  larger  than  from  three  to  six  thousand  people,  are  able  in  a 
great  degree  to  take  care  of  the  spiritual  necessities  of  the  students. 
In  our  institution  the  student,  on  entering  the  university,  fills  out  an 
application  card  and  answers  a  number  of  questions,  among  which  is, 
"What  is  your  church  preference?  Are  vou  a  member?" — and  each 
pastor  is  invited  to  take  all  these  names,  especially  those  who  express 
a  preference  for  his  church,  and  also  the  names  of  those  who  express 
no  preference,  and  to  receive  them  into  the  church.     And  then,  after 

(198) 


the  day  of  enrollment,  we  have  mailing  cards  so  that  the  registrar 
may  send  the  name  of  the  student  to  the  pastor  of  the  church  for 
which  the  student  has  expressed  a  preference. 

I  think  what  would  help  more  than  anything  else  now  would  be  to 
get  statistics  of  the  conditions  as  they  exist  at  the  present  time 
similar  to  those  collected  by  Dr.  Kelsey  some  years  ago,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  circulation  in  all  denominations,  and  especially  in  the  state 
universities.  The  need  I  think  is  to  proceed  intelligently,  observing 
the  axiomatic  principle,  that  no  education,  no  teaching  that  is  effectual 
can  be  done  by  authority,  that  no  instruction  can  be  imposed  upon 
any  one,  that  that  instruction  which  is  most  effective  is  that  which  is 
received  gladly  and  voluntarily,  and  that  religious  instruction  must 
have  this  characteristic  in  precisely  the  same  way  as  instruction  in 
the  science  and  in  the  arts. 

I  should  like  to  note  one  thing.  I  think  Professor  Bryan  alluded 
to-day  to  the  fact,  which  I  think  is  a  significant  one,  that  very  few 
candidates  for  the  ministry  come  from  the  state  universities.  He 
spoke  very  truly  when  he  pointed  out  that  this  was  on  account  of  a 
lack  of  a  strong  personality  bringing  itself  to  bear  upon  the  individuals 
that  would  be  eligible  to  the  call  of  the  ministry  and  to  impress  upon 
them  properly  the  importance  of  this  calling,  by  setting  it  before  them 
in  a  proper  way.  However,  I  can  say  for  myself,  and  I  think  I  voice 
the  feeling  of  those  who  are  interested  in  the  state  universities  when  I 
say  it,  we  admit  this,  and  it  is  deeply  to  be  regretted,  but  at  the  same 
time,  I  wish  to  remind  you  that  the  efficient,  influential,  hard  working 
layman  in  a  church  is  of  equal  importance  with  the  minister  himself, 
the  efficient,  influential  laymen  are  coming  from  this  large  enrollment 
of  young  men  and  young  women  that  are  going  out  from  the  univer- 
sities. It  is  therefore  just  as  important  that  we  look  out  for  these 
young  men  and  young  women  in  the  state  universities  for  the  sake  of 
their  value  to  the  church  after  they  leave  the  university,  as  it  is  to 
look  out  that  the  needs  of  the  churches  are  supplied  with  candidates 
for  the  ministry. 

Another  point  I  wish  to  mention,  and  that  is  the  point  that  was 
made  by  a  preceding  speaker,  in  which  he  points  out  the  conditions 
that  you  get  in  a  number  of  small  biblical  schools  representing  each 
denomination  rather  than  one  large,  comprehensive  theological  semi- 
nary. I  suggest  that  possibly  each  denomination  should  have  one 
person  to  teach  the  distinctive  things  of  his  education,  and  then  some 
one  that  would  teach  all  those  things  that  are  held  by  us  in  common. 
Now,  for  myself,  I  have  attended  divine  service  in  a  number  of 
churches,  but  for  many  years  I  do  not  recall  a  single  sermon  that 
appeared  to  me  could  not  have  been  delivered  with  the  same  propriety 
in  any  of  the  churches.  And  it  occurs  to  me  that  if  all  these  denomi- 
nations were  grouped  around  the  state  universities,  their  inter-rela- 

(199) 


82 

tions  and  their  mutual  discoveries  may  lead  to  a  unity  such  as  will  be 
helpful  to  all  of  us  in  a  grand  unity  to  which  we  are  now  looking  for- 
ward. 

Again,  my  friends,  the  university  itself  is  a  great  organization. 
Surrounded  with  such  spiritual  influences  as  these,  it  will  find  its 
greatest  inspiration  and  help.  It  occurs  to  me  that  if  here  and  there 
an  instructor  were  so  indiscreet,  not  to  say  evil,  as  to  make  sarcastic 
remarks  about  the  sanitary  conditions  or  about  the  ventilation  of  the 
ark,  with  a  university  surrounded  by  such  influences  he  certainly 
would  be  wise  enough  not  to  do  it  even  if  he  felt  the  impulse  to  do  it. 
So  the  university  itself  would  feel  the  stimulus  and  the  potent  influence 
of  this  thing  which  I  think  it  lacks  at  the  present  time. 


Reverend  Francis  A.  Wilber,  D.D. 
Principal  of  Westminster  House,  University  of  Kansas,  Lawrence,  Kans. 

The  question  has  confronted  us  in  Kansas,  in  the  theoretic  stage, 
as  our  experimentation  has  been  recent  and  brief,  and  precedents  are 
few;  but  it  is  theory  shaped  in  the  light  of  experience  elsewhere,  and 
emphasizing  methods  of  detail.  For  instance,  the  very  question 
which  Professor  Gray  put  to  me  this  afternoon,  suggested  itself  at  the 
outset,  viz:  "What  name  shall  I  give  to  the  work,  and  what  title  to 
my  office?"  Respecting  one's  attitude  toward  the  student  body,  the 
term  "Student  Pastor"  seemed,  all  thing  considered,  to  be  the  most 
suggestive  and  self-explanatory.  To  localize  the  idea,  the  academic 
term  "House"  easily  suggested  itself;  and  because  the  enterprise  is 
promoted  and  supported  by  Presbyterians,  we  decided  to  call  the 
student  pastor  "Principal  of  Westminster  House."  So  much  for 
the  evolution  of  the  name ;  the  next  thing  to  be  considered  is'  the  status 
of  the  office  itself,  which  implies  a  threefold  relationship,  viz.,  to  the 
church,  to  the  university,  and  to  the  student  body. 

With  respect  to  the  church,  of  course  one's  attitude  toward  his 
denomination,  if  he  happens  to  represent  one,  is  of  vital  importance. 
Let  me  illustrate  this  by  reference  to  the  various  forms  of  initiative  in 
the  Presbyterian  church,  with  which  I  am  most  familiar.  In  Michigan 
and  Illinois,  for  example,  the  Synod  has  taken  the  initiative,  by  assum- 
ing responsibility  and  control  from  the  oustet,  providing  for  the  ex- 
pense of  administration  either  by  a  direct  charge  upon  the  church  at 
large  throughout  the  state,  as  in  Michigan,  or  by  accepting  the  gener- 
ous offer  of  a  private  individual  to  assume  the  expense  of  experiment, 
as  in  Illinois.  In  Kansas  the  Synod  took  preliminary  steps,  by  ap- 
pointing a  committee  of  advisement;  the  experiment  was  actually 
launched  by  the  pastor  of  the  Lawrence  church,  Rev.  Dr.  Willis  G. 
Banker,  and  a  number  of  generous  Presbyterians,  who  undertook  to 
experiment  upon  the  general  plan,  pending  the  discussion  of  policy 

(200) 


83 

in  the  Synod.  Thus  you  see  the  Synod  is  not  financially  responsible 
for  the  enterprise,  in  its  present  stage,  as  it  did  not  initiate  it.  I 
ought  to  say,  however,  in  passing,  that  the  Synod  has  given  it  a  most 
hearty  endorsement,  which  is  all  the  more  significant,  as  it  is  deeply 
interested  in  the  success  of  its  own  Synodical  College.  Its  sole  re- 
sponsibility is  expressed  in  a  strongly  worded  resolution  of  endorse- 
ment, and  the  appointment  of  a  committee,  at  our  request,  to  inspect 
the  work  done,  and  report  annually  to  the  Synod.  It  is  intended 
eventually  to  incorporate  that  committee  as  a  board  of  trustees. 
Thus  you  see  that  the  relation  of  the  Synod  to  the  project  is  purely 
sympathetic  and  advisory. 

As  to  the  relation  of  the  student  pastor  to  the  local  church,  our 
experiment  in  Kansas  is  perhaps  unique.  He  is  not,  as  I  understand 
is  the  case  in  Michigan,  the  assistant  of  the  local  pastor.  Dr.  Banker 
and  I  work  together  very  cordially.  It  is  understood  that  I  am  to 
use  his  pulpit  in  ways  not  prejudicial  to  his  own  work,  cooperating  with 
him  in  making  a  church  home  for  the  students,  and  affording  to  me 
an  opportunity  to  address  them  upon  topics  specially  connected  with 
our  Bible  work  or  practical  Christian  life.  I  am  in  no  sense  a  pastor 
of  the  church,  but  only  a  member  of  the  congregation.  Here,  too,  the 
relation  is  purely  sympathetic  and  advisory.  In  connection  with 
the  Church  Bible  School  I  conduct  a  Bible  class,  composed  wholly  of 
University  students;  and  these  join  freely  and  helpfully  in  the  work 
of  the  Y.  P.  S.  C.  E.  We  cultivate  this  relation  of  students  with  the 
local  church  chiefly  for  social  fellowship,  to  compensate,  as  far  as 
possible,  for  the  sundering  of  religious  ties  with  the  home  church. 

I  wish  to  speak,  thirdly,  of  the  relation  of  the  student  pastorate  to 
the  university  itself.  Here,  again,  the  relation  is  pure  sympathetic. 
My  standing  with  the  faculty  of  the  University  of  Kansas  is  one  of 
mere  social  courtesy.  Of  cordiality  I  have  had  abundant  and  em- 
phatic proofs;  but  the  University  assumes  no  responsibility  whatever 
for  our  work,  beyond  an  official  resolution,  strongly  worded  and  passed 
unanimously  by  the  board  of  regents,  in  which  the  value  of  this  kind 
of  academic  work  was  appreciatively  recognized.  I  cannot  see  how 
the  position  of  the  student  pastor  could  have  been  strengthened  by 
his  election  to  the  rank  of  a  college  professor,  as  has  been  done  else- 
where. Indeed  I  have  been  led  by  a  study  of  the  problem  to  the  con- 
viction that  the  very  weakness  of  the  college  pastorate,  as  such, 
which  seems  to  be  generally  conceded  by  the  graduates  of  prominent 
Eastern  institutions,  lies  principally  in  the  fact  that  the  pastor  was  a 
member  of  the  faculty.  A  friend  of  mine,  who  is  himself  a  city  pastor 
under  the  shadow  of  one  of  our  largest  universities,  told  me  that  the 
college  pastor  is  looked  upon  by  the  students  as  a  faculty  spy.  I  have 
been  assured  by  Chancellor  Strong,  of  Kansas  State  University, 
himself  a  Yale  man,  that  the  failures  to  which  I  have  referred  would 

(201) 


/ 


84 

probably  be  avoided  in  Kansas,  from  the  very  fact  that  the  pastorate 
proposed  to  have  no  official  connection  with  the  University.  This,  I 
think,  is  the  true  theory  of  the  case.  If  the  work  done  is  efficient  and 
acceptable,  the  position  will  get  proper  recognition;  if  the  plan  should 
prove  impracticable,  the  faculty  would  have  no  responsibility  for  the 
experiment. 

The  regents  of  the  Kansas  State  University  have  promised  that 
when  the  work  shall  have  approved  itself,  and  established  a  given 
academic  standard,  it  shall  be  recognized  by  assigning  to  it  credits  in 
an  elective  course,  in  the  same  way  as  is  done  with  study  equivalents 
in  other  departments.  In  other  words,  there  shall  be  no  prejudice 
created  against  scholarly  study  of  the  Bible  because  it  entrenches 
upon  the  subject  of  religion. 

It  would  seem  that  such  a  liberal  course  would  help  to  attract 
students  to  our  classes  who  might  not  otherwise  join  them.  I  know 
it  is  said  that  if  young  people  wish  to  take  Bible  study,  they  will  do 
so  with  or  without  the  credit  system.  On  the  other  hand,  many  come 
to  college  with  small  means,  and  with  the  fixed  idea  that  all  their  time 
must  be  employed  in  working  for  a  degree ;  and  if  they  could  get  credit 
for  the  time  employed  in  Bible  study,  they  would  elect  it;  not  for  the 
purpose  of  "cinch"  or  "bunco"  that  is  to  avoid  thorough  work,  but 
to  acquire  scholarly  and  scientific  methods  for  study  of  the  Bible. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  our  classes  are  drawn  from  the  most  earnest  and 
intellectual  groups  of  the  student  body. 

A  most  important  factor  in  this  whole  problem  is  the  attitude 
taken  by  the  student  class  toward  this  movement.  The  personal 
equation  has  much  to  do  with  its  successful  solution.  Under 
the  voluntary  system  proposed,  you  cannot  attract  them  unless  they 
like  you.  The  relation  is  pre-eminently  a  confidential  one,  as  the 
name  "Pastor"  itself  implies.  It  must  be  a  matter  of  offered  help 
and  willing  response,  upon  a  basis  of  thorough  frankness  and  sym- 
pathy. In  the  University  of  Kansas  we  ofiFer  Bible  courses,  as  they 
do  elsewhere,  notably  in  the  University  of  Missouri;  and  I  can  say 
that  the  response  has  been  quite  flattering.  Dr.  Payne,  of  the 
Christian  church,  has  for  three  years  conducted  a  "Bible  Chair," 
along  lines  which  I  have  described,  and  with  marked  success;  so  that 
the  experiment  in  our  institution  may  be  said  to  have  passed  its 
critical  stage.  The  Christian  church  deserves  the  honor  of  being  the 
pioneer  in  the  founding  of  Bible  Chairs  in  state  universities. 

The  work  which  we  propose  to  undertake  will,  however,  be  a 
larger  one  than  the  term  "Bible  Chair"  would  indicate.  The  "Stu- 
dent Pastorate"  will  include,  in  our  use  of  it,  a  twofold  function,  the 
academic  and  the  personal.  Academically,  we  shall  offer  courses  of 
study  in  the  English  Bible  and  its  original  languages;  in  Christian 
Missions,  theism,  and  the  Harmony  of  Science  and  Religion;  with  now 

(202) 


85 

and  then  a  Round  Table,  at  which  matters  of  concern  to  students  shall 
have  social  discussion.  In  this  way  we  shall  attempt  to  put  our  work 
upon  what  I  may  call  an  academic  foundation.  I  hardly  see  how  one 
who  comes  into  the  University  circle  can  command  the  interest  of  the 
students,  unless  he  avowedly  adopts  the  university  spirit.  Here  lies 
his  advantage  over  the  local  pastor,  who  stands  necessarily  more  or 
less  outside  of  the  university,  being  "town,"  and  not  "gown."  One 
should,  if  possible,  reside  in  the  student  quarter,  and  mingle  freely 
and  constantly  with  the  student  body,  to  do  his  best  work  with  and 
for  the  individual  student. 

In  accordance  with  this  theory,  my  home  is  called  "Westminster 
House,"  where  my  wife  and  myself  dispense  a  cordial  hospitality  to 
all  students,  not  only  for  social  intercourse,  but,  what  also  is  far  more 
important,  for  personal  acquaintance  and  confidential  friendship.  If 
I  conceive  this  problem  correctly,  it  is  in  the  personal  touch  that  the 
real  secret  of  helpfulness  will  lie.  One  must  be  able  to  come  into 
close  contact  with  young  people  in  their  thinking  and  their  aspirations, 
in  their  strivings  and  their  questionings,  perhaps  in  their  failings  and 
their  fallings,  and  if  God  will,  in  their  struggles  and  triumphs.  A 
young  lady  who  took  tea  with  us  last  Sabbath  evening,  said  to  my  wife 
as  she  went  away:  "You  don't  know  what  a  blessed  thing  it  is  for  me 
to  come  into  a  home.  I  have  been  in  a  boarding-house  ever  since  I 
came  here,  and  I  am  home-sick."  We  have  discovered  that  girls 
away  at  school  want  mothering;  young  men,  too,  want  brothering. 
Young  people  need  something  that  no  college  curriculum  can  give  to 
them;  thev  need  a  friend.  Sometimes,  in  their  heart  experience  they 
are  at  the  parting  of  the  ways,  and  they  need  someone  to  come  to 
them,  not  in  an  official  way,  or  with  a  wisdom,  but  with  an  outstretched 
hand  and  a  sympathetic  heart.  It  seems  to  me  that  this  personal 
work,  the  personal  equation,  as  I  have  called  it,  is  the  most  important 
factor,  after  all,  in  this  complex  problem.  What  we  need,  as  was 
reiterated  to-day,  is  life,  the  life  more  abundant.  Books  alone  can- 
not impart  it.  It  comes  through  contact  with  others.  Life  alone 
can  impart  life.  We  must  furnish  our  young  people  with  those  sug- 
gestive lines  of  study  which  the  secular  curriculum  of  the  university 
is  unable  to  furnish,  and  to  lead  them,  in  the  most  critical  period  of 
their  life,  to  a  right  decision  in  religion.  The  opportunity  for  useful- 
ness thus  afforded  is  most  promising,  I  may  say  most  alluring;  enough 
to  attract  one  from  the  ordinary  work  of  the  ministry  into  a  work 
which  has  no  statistics,  and  no  growth  that  can  be  chronicled;  a  work 
which  is  like  casting  bread  upon  the  waters,  hoping  it  to  come  back 
after  many  days.  It  is  a  humble  and  unostentatious  work,  like  all 
foundation -building;  but  if  planned  broadly,  and  built  with  the  Divine 
materials  ever  at  hand,  it  has  in  it  the  prophecy  of  a  great  super- 
structure  for   the   honor   of  Christ   and    His   church.       Success   must 

(203) 


86 

crown  our  efforts,  if  we  build  after  the  Divine  plan,  "that  our  sons 
may  be  as  plants,  grown  up  in  their  youth ;  that  our  daughters  may  be 
as  cornerstones,  polished  after  the  similitude  of  a  palace." 


MISCELLANEOUS  DISCUSSION 

Reverend  E.  L.  Rivard,  C.S.V.,  D.D.,  Ph.D. 
Professor  in  St.  Viatetir's  College,  Bourbonnais,  Illinois 

Nothing  is  more  significant  in  the  field  of  intellectuality  and  moral- 
ity than  the  appeal  made  on  the  part  of  this  great  center  of  enlighten- 
ment to  the  Church,  and  consequently  we  welcome  this  movement  and 
feel  encouraged  in  its  ultimate  hope  of  a  wise  solution  of  problems 
because  of  the  friendly  unanimity  with  which  discussion  has  been 
entered  into  by  the  diverse  religious  bodies  here  represented. 

Now,  it  seems  to  me  that  since  the  appeal  is  made  by  the  university 
to  the  church,  that  the  churches  must  act  as  churches.  Every  church 
or  denomination  is  distinct  from  every  other  by  reason  of  the  distinct 
meaning  it  takes  from  the  Bible,  the  way  that  it  looks  upon  religious 
duty,  its  various  positive  religious  tenets  and  practices.  I  take  it 
upon  myself  to  say  to  you  that  all  the  parents  of  the  young  Catholic 
students  who  are  here  in  this  university  will  applaud  any  movement 
that  will  more  securely  place  their  sons  and  daughters  in  the  hands 
of  the  residing  pastor,  the  popular  Father  Cannon,  Pastor  of  St. 
Patrick's  Church.  And  I  do  not  doubt  that  the  parents  of  other 
students  will  applaud  likewise  any  movement  that  will  insure  the  prop- 
agation of  their  religious  convictions,  so  that  when  these  young  men 
and  young  women  leave  this  great  institution,  they  will  not  return 
home  with  an  intellectual  equipment  only  that  will  insure  their  practi- 
cal success  in  life,  but  they  will  return  with  their  religious  convictions 
deepened  and  broadened  proportionately  with  their  intellectual  educa- 
tion. 

It  seems  to  me,  therefore,  that  the  work  of  religious  education,  so 
far  as  it  relates  to  the  student  body,  is  to  be  done  by  the  local  churches, 
and  the  pastors  must  adopt  such  means  as  will  seem  to  them  best  to 
accomplish  this  end  through  a  consideration  of  such  subjects  as  the 
evidences  of  Christianity,  the  philosophy  of  religion,  and  the  treat 
ment  of  questions  that  are  on  a  parallel  with  the  mental  development 
of  the  students  who  attend  the  university.  It  seems  to  me  that  if 
this  method  is  followed  out  we  shall  reap  the  best  results,  and  then  we 
shall  certainly  have  done  our  country  and  our  State  the  best  service 
that  we  are  able  to  render  in  the  present  conditions. 


(204) 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 


instalIation 


OF 


Edmund  Janes  James,  Ph.  D.,  LL.  D. 

AS  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 


PART  III. 


PROCEEDINGS  OF 
THE  CONFERENCE  ON  COMMERCIAL  EDUCATION 

October  i9-20,  1905 


Edited  by  George  M,  Fisk,  Ph.  D. 


Price  One  Dollar 


Urbana,  1906 


Copyright  1906 
By  The  University  of  Illinois 


Press  op  The 

Illinois  Printing  Company 

Danville,  Illinois 


PREFATORY  NOTE 

For  the  purpose  of  discussing  some  of  the  important  problems 
connected  with  the  recent  development  of  higher  commercial  educa- 
tion a  conference  was  held  at  Ann  Arbor,  Michigan,  in  1903  under  the 
auspices  of  the  Michigan  Political  Science  Association.  The  success 
of  this  conference  led  to  the  suggestion  on  the  part  of  those  who  par- 
ticipated in  it,  that  other  conferences  be  held  from  time  to  time  for  the 
purpose  of  discussing  some  of  the  new  questions  which  were  bound 
to  come  up  in  regard  to  different  phases  of  commercial  education. 

It  was  thought  well,  therefore,  to  hold  a  second  conference  on  the 
general  subject,  at  the  University  of  Illinois,  in  connection  with  the 
exercises  of  the  installation  of  Dr.  Edmund  J.  James  as  President  of 
the  University.  The  conference  met  and  held  four  sessions,  accord- 
ing to  the  program  below. 


(207) 


PROGRAM 

First  Session:     9:00  a.m.,  Thursday,  October  19 
Mr.  Andrew  McLeish,  of  Chicago,  Presiding 
Address  of  Welcome:     Dean  David  Kinley. 

General  Subject:     The  Aim  and  Scope  of  University  Courses  in  Commerce. 
Address:     The   Essentials  of   a  Course  in   University  Com.mercial   Education: 
Professor  John  Cummings,  University  of  Chicago. 

Discussion : — 

Professor  William  A.  Scott,  University  of  Wisconsin. 

Professor  Ernest  R.  Dewsnup,  University  of  Chicago. 

Mr.  Andrew  McLeish,  Chicago. 
Address:     Character  of  Instruction;  Should  it  be  Technical?      Professor  Harlow 

S.  Person,  Dartmouth  College;  Professor  Maurice  H.  Robinson,  University 

of  Illinois. 
Discussion:      Professor  Matthew  B.  Hammond,  University  of  Ohio. 
Second  Session:     3:00  p.m.,  Thursday,  October  19 
Professor  William  A .  Scott,  University  of  Wisconsin,  Presiding 
General  Subject:     The  Relation  of  High  School  Commercial  Courses  to  Uni- 
versity Courses. 
Address :     The  Essentials  of  a  High  School  Course  in  Comm.erce :      Principal  J .  S. 

Sheppard,  N.  Y.  High  School  of  Commerce. 
Address:     Correlation  of  High  School  and  University  Courses:      Principal  James 

E.  Armstrong,  Englewood  High  School,  Chicago. 

Discussion: — 

Principal  F.  D.  Thom.pson,  Galesburg  High  School. 
Professor  M.  H.  Robinson. 
Superintendent  E.  G.  Cooley,  of  Chicago. 
Professor  G.  M.  Fisk. 

Superintendent  T.  C.  Clendenen,  of  Cairo. 
Professor  D.  E.  Burchell,  University  of  Wisconsin. 
Professor  M.  B.  Hammond,  State  University  of  Ohio. 
Principal  J.  E.  Armstrong,  Englewood  High  School. 
President  G.  W.  Brown,  of  Brown's  Business  Colleges. 

Third  Session:     8:00  p.m.,  Thursday,  October  19 
Honorable  William  B.  McKinley,  M.  C,  Presiding 
General  Subject:     Business  Practice. 
Address:     How  Shall  We  Teach  Business  Practice?      Professor  D.  E.  Burchell, 

University  of  Wisconsin. 
Discussion:     Mr.   G.  W.  Brown,   President  and  Manager  of  Brown's  Business 

Colleges. 
Address:     What   Business   Men   Want  Young  Men  to  Know:     Mr.   David   R. 

Forgan,  First  National  Bank,  Chicago. 
Discussion: — 

Mr.  E.  L.  Scott,  of  Sears,  Roebuck  &  Co.,  Chicago. 
Hon.  W.  B.  McKinley. 
Address:     Ethics  of   Business:     Rt.   Rev.   E.    W.   Osborne,   D.D.,   Bishop  Co- 
adjutor, Springfield,  111. 

Fourth  Session:     9:00  a.m.,  Friday,  October  20 

Professor  Edward  D.  Jones,  University  of  Michigan,  Presiding 

Address:     Commercial  Museum^s:   Professor  W.  R.  Patterson,  University  of  Iowa. 

Discussion : — 

Mr.  W.  H.  Schoff,  Secretary  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museums. 

Professor  H.  S.  Person,  Dartmouth  College. 
Address:     Commercial  Organization:  Professor  J.  S.  Hagerty,  Universityof  Ohio. 
Discussion:     Mr.  C.  C.  Parsons,  of  the  Shaw-Walker  Co.,  Chicago. 
Address:     Training  for  Governm.ent  Service:     Dr.  E.  D.  Durand,  of  the  U.  S. 

Bureau  of  Corporations. 
Discussion: — 

Dean  David  Kinley,  University  of  Illinois. 

Professor  E.  D.  Jones,  University  of  Michigan. 

(208) 


FIRST    SESSION 


ADDRESS  OF  WELCOME 
By  Deax  David  Kixley 

It  is  with  much  pleasure,  alloyed  with  regret,  that  I  have  the  privi- 
lege of  welcoming  you  to  this  conference  on  Commercial  Education. 
It  is  a  pleasure,  because  it  gives  me  an  opportunity  to  greet  you;  it  is 
a  source  of  regret  because  our  President,  who,  I  think,  was  the  first, 
and  certainly  is  the  most  distinguished,  exponent  of  the  demand  for 
university  education  for  business  life,  is  not  himself  able  to  greet  you. 
I  assure  you,  however,  that  your  welcome  is  none  the  less  hearty,  and 
I  bring  his  greetings  and  his  expression  of  good  will  and  interest  in 
the  work  for  which  we  are  gathered. 

It  is  a  new  thing  in  the  educational  world  that  we  are  gathered  to 
discuss.  For  a  long  time,  colleges  and  universities  have  thought  that 
their  field  of  work  was  to  prepare  young  men  and  young  women  either 
for  one  of  the  older  professions  or  for  no  specific  calling.  They  have 
sought  to  lay  an  educational  foundation  for  the  study  of  law,  theology, 
medicine  and  teaching.  They  have  not,  until  lately,  regarded  prepara- 
tion for  the  higher  positions  in  business  life  as  worthy  of  their  atten- 
tion; nor  have  educational  authorities  supposed  that  the  subject 
matter  of  the  studies  that  deal  with  business  life  were  capable  of 
classification  and  systematization  sufficient  to  make  them  available  in 
the  college  curriculum,  or  of  sufficient  logical  intricacy  to  make  them 
valuable  as  a  means  of  mental  training.  We  see  now  the  error  of  our 
ways,  in  this  respect.  Many  of  us  have  recognized,  and  soon  all  of  us 
in  colleges  and  universities  will  recognize,  the  truth  of  the  statement 
that  the  higher  positions  in  business  life  may  truly  be  regarded  as 
professional,  and  really  demand  a  training  as  rigorous  and  as  broad 
as  is  called  for  in  preparation  for  one  of  the  learned  professions.  Hence 
it  is  that  so  many  of  our  higher  institutions  of  learning  have  been 
organizing  courses  in  commerce,  or  courses  of  business  training,  or 
schools,  or  colleges,  of  commerce.  The  aim,  I  need  not  remind  you, 
is  to  develop  in  young  men  mental  and  moral  qualities  that  will  fit 
them  for  positions  as  superintendents,  managers,  presidents  or  direc- 
tors of  corporations  and  other  forms  of  business  organizations. 

Of  course  we  do  not  make  the  mistake  of  supposing  that  our 
graduates  are  going  into  these  high  positions  at  once;  our  whole  plea 
lies  in  the  claim  that  young  men,  trained  as  we  are  trying  now  to  train 
them,  will  rise  more  rapidly  and  attain  a  higher  eminence  and  greater 
success  in  business  life  than  they  would  be  likely  to  attain  without 
this  training. 

(209j 


Moreover,  conditions  of  success  in  business  in  these  days  are  more 
intricate  and  difficult  than  ever  before.  In  this  country,  we  have 
availed  ourselves  of  the  most  easily  utilized  of  our  industrial  oppor- 
tunities. Whatever  success  we  attain  now,  in  international  compe- 
tition, industrial  and  commercial,  can  be  attained  only  by  working 
with  a  skill  and  intelligence  equal  to  those  possessed  by  our  keenest 
competitors.  In  other  words,  business  life  now  demands,  in  all  de- 
partments, men  who  are  severelv  trained,  mentally  and  morally. 

It  may  seem  difficult  to  determine  which  of  the  two  kinds  of 
training,  mental  or  moral,  conduces  more  to  success  in  business  life. 
The  difficulty,  however,  is  really,  after  all,  a  simple  one.  We  are 
appalled  to-day  at  the  revelations  of  corruption,  neglect  of  duty  and 
small  sense  of  responsibility  displayed  by  some  of  the  heads  of  our 
great  corporations.  I  have  in  mind  particularh^  the  insurance  inves- 
tigations and  certain  recent  bank  defalcations.  These  experiences 
lead  us  to  the  conclusion  that,  no  matter  how  abundant  and  excellent 
the  facilities  for  mental  training  for  business  life,  they  will  be  of  little 
use  in  the  long  run,  either  for  the  individuals  who  get  the  benefit  of 
them  or  for  the  business  development  of  our  country,  unless  they  rest 
upon  a  stable  foundation  of  integrity  of  character.  Business  life 
needs  a  higher  standard  of  ethics.  Business  morals  need  to  be  up- 
lifted, purified;  and  one  of  the  most  important  duties  of  the  colleges 
and  universities  in  these  courses  of  training  for  business  life,  is  to  set 
high  standards  and  new  ideals  of  business  morality  before  the  young 
men  who  are  soon  to  carry  on  the  business  of  the  country  and  of  the 
world. 

It  is  not  true,  as  is  sometimes  said,  that  a  man  cannot  be  honest 
and  successful  in  business  at  the  same  time.  There  are  firms,  whose 
business  life  extends  through  many  years,  whose  reputation  for 
integrity  has  always  been  unsullied.  In  the  ranks  of  business  men, 
there  are  many  whose  standards  of  moral  conduct  in  business  dealings 
are  as  high,  whose  hands  are  as  clean,  whose  business  lives  are  as  pure, 
as  those  of  anv  other  man  in  any  other  calling.  Such  men  are  an 
inspiration  to  the  young  men  who  are  looking  forward  to  business  life. 
It  is,  therefore,  with  peculiar  pleasure  that  I  am  able  to  introduce  to 
you,  as  chairman  of  3'our  session  this  morning,  one  who  is  an  example 
of  the  kind  of  man  and  whose  business  is  an  example  of  the  kind  of 
business,  which  I  have  just  mentioned;  one  of  the  greatest  merchants 
in  the  city  of  Chicago ;  one  whose  long  life  has  been  devoted  to  mercan- 
tile pursuits;  one  whose  business  and  whose  life,  through  all  these 
years,  have  been  a  shining  example  of  uprightness,  high  ideals  and  strict 
honor  in  all  relations;  and  who,  at  the  same  time,  possesses  the  keen 
intellectual  qualities  and  the  native  talent  for  business  that  make 
great  merchant  princes.  Such  a  merchant  prince  and,  more  than 
that,  such  a  man,  I  have  the  pleasure  of  presenting  to  you  to-day  in 

(210) 


the  person  of  Mr.  Andrew  MacLeish  of  the  firm  of  Carson,  Pirie,  Scott 
&  Co.  of  Chicago. 

Mr.  McLeish  responded  gracefully  in  acknowledgment  of  Dean 
Kinley's  introduction,  emphasized  his  agreement  with  the  opinion 
that  a  high  standard  of  business  ethics  is  essential  to  the  best  success, 
and  then  called  for  the  opening  paper. 


THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  A  COURSE  IX  UNIVERSITY  COMMER- 
CIAL EDUCATION 

By  Professor  John  Cummings,  Ph.D. 
University  oj  Chicago 

The  university  commercial  education  means  something  different 
from  the  professional  training  which  the  college  gives.  We  are 
brought  to  the  question,  how  far  can  the  university  go  in  this  direction 
without  sacrificing  something  of  its  high  ideals  of  scholarship?  How 
far  may  university  work  be  made  technical?  We  watch  the  dissolu- 
tion of  the  old  courses  with  a  good  deal  of  trepidation  and  anxiety  lest 
our  ideals  of  scholarship  should  be  impaired  and  lowered  and  narrowed, 
or  lose  in  character. 

Of  course  we  are  all  familiar  with  the  theory  of  education  which  is 
still  the  theory  upon  which  many  institutions  organize  their  work,  that 
exactly  in  proportion  as  university  work  has  a  utilitarian  character, 
exactly  in  that  porportion  and  to  that  extent  does  it  lose  character 
and  educational  value  and  encourage  the  tendencies  which  I  have 
in  mind  when  I  say  the  liberal  arts  course  has  been  broken  up. 

We  have  seen  the  four  years'  course  brought  down  to  three  and 
there  is  a  tendency  to  shorten  it  still  more.  One  college  president  has 
said  that  he  believes  a  two  year  course  is  desirable.  The  first  year  of 
professional  schools  like  law  and  medicine  is  made  the  last  year  of  the 
liberal  arts  course,  thus  shortening  the  time  of  the  professional  course. 
W^e  find  the  schools  insisting  upon  certain  prerequisites  which  shall  be 
taken  in  college  before  the  student  can  enter  these  professional  schools. 
That  gives  the  liberal  arts  course  this  bearing,  and  leads  to  this  organi- 
zation of  the  work  with  reference  to  the  professional  schools.  Classics 
are  largely  excluded  from  the  liberal  courses  excepting  for  those  who 
are  fitting  themselves  to  teach  them.  Finally  we  have  seen  the  work 
of  undergraduates  organized  under  such  general  headings  as  schools  of 
philosophy,  of  commerce  and  science,  of  arts  and  literature,  of  com- 
merce and  administration.  The  American  college  today  is  not  a 
college  so  much  as  it  is  a  group  of  colleges,  each  of  a  more  or  less  pro- 
fessional or  technical  character.  It  is  broken  up.  There  is  still  a 
remnant  left  which  is  called  the  liberal  arts  course.  Ordinarily  this 
is  a  course  for  teachers.     We  might  recognize  the  fact  that  Latin  and 

(211) 


8 

Greek  are  taught  for  the  purpose  of  fitting  people  to  teach  them  and 
not  for  the  purpose  of  getting  anything  educational  or  cultural  out  of 
them.  Not  one  student  in  a  thousand  makes  his  Latin  or  Greek  a  live 
interest  unless  he  is  a  teacher  of  it.  That  course  is  professional  just 
like  commerce  or  administration.  A  man  going  into  certain  lines  of 
business  wants  to  know  something  about  systems  of  transportation. 
If  he  is  going  to  teach  Greek  or  Latin  he  must  know  something  about 
Greek  and  Latin.  We  may  say  that  our  university  work  at  the  present 
time  is  tainted  with  commercialism.  I  have  been  more  or  less  associ- 
ated with  my  colleagues  in  certain  lines  of  work  in  Chicago,  and  I  am 
convinced  that  the  most  questionable  work  which  a  university  under- 
takes to  do  at  the  present  time,  the  work  by  which  it  is  more  likely  to 
lose  character  in  university  circles,  is  that  which  takes  the  university 
out  into  the  world  of  affairs  and  makes  it  a  factor  there  by  dealing 
with  men  who  are  earning  their  living  and  who  have  only  evenings  to 
devote  to  the  study  of  certain  subjects  in  which  they  are  interested. 
We  have  taken  up  this  work  with  railroad  employees,  Chicago  being  a 
great  center;  it  has  also  been  taken  up  with  men  in  banks,  and  in  other 
lines  of  business,  in  commercial  houses  and  in  insurance.  That  sort 
of  work  will  lose  character  for  the  university  man  because  he  is  in  such 
close  touch  with  the  commercial  world  and  is  rather  removed  from 
university  work.  I  conceive  that  the  problems  which  arise  are  exactly 
the  same  which  confront  any  one  in  his  regular  university  work,  in 
dealing  with  men  who  come  from  the  high  schools  in  the  ordinary 
course.  These  men  who  are  working  in  some  great  corporation  want 
to  understand  something  of  the  part  which  this  corporation  plays  in 
the  world.  Their  needs  are  exactly  the  same  as  that  of  the  student 
who  is  going  into  the  industrial  world.  They  both  want  a  compre- 
hensive understanding  of  the  complex  industrial  organization  in  which 
they  are  placed  or  expect  to  be  placed. 

That  is  the  great  object  of  education  in  general.  It  is  to  make  a 
man  intelligent.  But  what  is  intelligence?  It  means  that  a  man 
should  understand  the  environment  in  which  he  lives.  What  makes 
the  educated  man  distinct  from  the  uneducated  is  the  understanding 
of  the  environment  in  which  he  is  working  and  living.  If  he  can  add 
an  understanding  of  the  environment  in  which  the  Egyptians,  the 
Romans  and  the  Greeks  lived,  that  is  an  advantage  too,  but  is  not  so 
essential. 

All  that  I  can  say  on  commercial  education  relates  to  that  simple 
principle.  The  well  educated  man  is  distinguished  from  the  ignorant 
one  by  having  a  comprehension  of  the  social  life  of  which  he  is  a  part. 
Applying  this  to  commercial  education,  this  must  require  parallel 
knowledge  of  commercial  and  industrial  development.  The  funda- 
mental principle  which  the  university  should  observe  in  these  com- 
mercial courses  and  in  determining  what  is  essentially  a  commercial 

(2   2) 


course  is  thus  laid  down.  I  think  it  is  true  of  the  American  univer- 
sities that  they  have  omitted  the  necessity  of  looking  at  the  environ- 
ment in  which  they  live  but  have  imitated  what  their  associates  are 
doing  under  different  circumstances.  Of  course  it  is  all  imitation 
from  the  old  Greek  and  Roman.  American  universities  have  gone  on 
for  one  hundred  years  and  taught  Latin  and  Greek.  The  influence  of 
the  monks  has  come  down  to  the  present  time.  There  is  nothing  in 
history  that  is  so  extraordinary  as  the  persistence  of  that  old  scholastic 
ideal  in  a  commvmity  which  is  just  as  different  from  that  old  com- 
munity in  its  resources  and  character  as  could  possibly  be  conceived. 
In  determining  the  essentials  of  a  commercial  education  let  us  take 
the  simple  principle  that  I  suggested.  If  a  university  is  exerting  its 
influence  throughout  an  agricultural  region,  what  is  the  nature  of  the 
work  for  that  college?  It  is  eminently  fitting,  I  should  say,  for  such 
a  university  to  devote  itself  largely  to  those  great  economic  problems 
which  pertain  to  agriculture.  It  is  exceedingly  unfortunate  that  our 
economics  is  written  from  the  point  of  view  of  men  who  live  in  cities, 
rather  than  in  the  country.  Two-thirds  of  our  population  is  rural. 
Their  economic  problems  have  to  do  with  that  form  of  life  and  should 
be  based  on  the  fact  that  the  community  is  agricultural.  The  problems 
and  conditions  are  agricultural.  It  is  too  often  true  that  economics 
deals  mainly  with  the  stock  exchange  in  New  York  City,  with  foreign 
trade,  high  finance,  and  all  that.  It  does  not  touch  the  real  vital 
interest  with  which  a  great  population  happens  to  be  mostly  concerned. 
In  a  community  devoted  to  manufacturing  it  would  be  quite  natural 
to  found  its  commercial  education  upon  that  fact.  It  should  be  largely 
historical  of  our  great  industries  and  the  peculiar  conditions  and  prob- 
lems that  arise  in  relation  to  labor  and  capital.  In  a  commercial 
center,  it  should  deal  mainly  with  commerce.  In- Chicago  we  are  the 
center  of  great  railroad  interests  and  w^e  develop  along  that  line. 
Where  the  general  economic  interest  is  agriculture,  manufactures, 
finance,  insurance,  and  so  on,  the  course  of  instruction  should  take 
that  form.  The  place  of  economic  interest  and  economic  development 
may  lie  within  one  or  the  other  of  these  fields.  The  university  should 
recognize  this  fact,  and  the  work  should  be  more  or  less  directly  re- 
lated to  the  occupations  of  those  who  make  up  the  community.  If  it 
be  farming,  the  university  should  recognize  that  fact  in  its  work. 

The  so-called  liberal  arts  course  is  undergoing  its  final  dissolution, 
that  which  is  commonly  known  as  liberal  arts  course  being  a  course 
for  teachers  now.  The  A.  B.  classical  course  is  for  teachers  and  not  one 
to  give  the  cultural  training  which  we  associate  with  the  study  of  Greek 
and  Latin.  The  organization  of  colleges  has  been  effected  in  order  to 
bring  the  college  and  university  work  into  relation  with  real  life  inter- 
ests and  to  give  these  courses  a  utilitarian  significance.  That,  I  think, 
is  in  accordance  with  the  sound  principle  of  the  philosophy  of  education. 

(213) 


10 

The  essential  of  a  course  in  commercial  education  is  that  it  shall 
strike  its  roots  deep  into  the  industrial  character  of  a  community  over 
which  the  university  happens  to  extend  its  influence.  The  majority 
who  go  through  our  universities  are  turned  into  these  industrial  pur- 
suits and  that  fact  should  not  and  cannot  be  ignored  by  the  organizers 
of  our  college  courses.  The  college  should  offer  work  which  will 
enable  them  to  take  up  these  affairs  with  a  greater  degree  of  intelli- 
gence. 

Personallv,  I  took  up  certain  lines  of  work  with  certain  precon- 
ceived ideas  regarding  it  which  I  soon  modified  very  materially.  There 
is  some  uncertainty  among  the  universities  as  to  the  attitude  of  the 
business  world  toward  this  effort  on  the  part  of  universities  to  take 
up  this  line  of  work.  We  found  in  Chicago  that  the  business  world 
was  willing  to  come  more  than  half  way;  that  was  surprising,  I  think, 
to  some  of  us.  At  least  I  may  say  that  I  did  not  anticipate  it.  Wher- 
ever we  have  approached  the  business  community,  there  has  been  an 
evidence  of  the  keenest  sort  of  desire  to  get  anything  the  university 
has  to  offer  of  value  that  will  widen  the  horizon  of  those  who  are  em- 
ployed in  industrial  pursuits.  That  has  been  one  of  the  most  striking 
development  of  our  work  in  Chicago, — to  find  the  business  world 
willing  to  take  chances.  They  do  not  wait  to  have  the  thing  demon- 
strated absolutely,  but  are  willing  to  take  chances  that  certain  lines 
of  work  may  prove  beneficial.  Not  profitable  in  the  sense  that  they 
would  add  to  the  income  of  certain  corporations;  but  beneficial  in 
another  sense, — that  it  might  prove  helpful  to  those  young  men  who 
were  employees  in  this  great  corporation.  We  have  found  business 
men  willing  to  make  sacrifices  in  order  to  prove  or  disprove  the  ability 
of  the  university  to  be  of  service  in  the  world  of  affairs.  That  is  re- 
assuring for  those  of  us  who  are  in  university  and  college  work.  Every 
now  and  then  we  are  told  that  the  place  to  learn  business  is  in  business, 
banking  in  the  bank,  railroading  in  the  railroad;  but  that  does  not 
quite  express  the  feeling  of  the  business  world  at  the  present  time. 


DISCUSSION 

Professor  W.  A.  Scott,  Ph.D. 

University  of  Wisconsin 

I  am  so  heartily  in  accord  with  the  general  propositions  which 
Professor  Cummings  has  laid  down  that  it  will  not  be  necessary  for 
me  to  do  more  than  give  a  few  concrete  illustrations  of  the  general 
trend  of  events.  Any  person  who  has  been  actively  engaged  in  this 
movement  for  commercial  education,  and  has  lived  in  the  university 
atmosphere  in  which  this  development  has  taken  place,  will  appreciate 
very  fully  the  remarks  in  regard  to  the  general  trend  of  university 
courses.     The  breaking  up  of  the  so-called  liberal  course  brings  out 

(214) 


11 

one  or  two  facts  to  our  notice.  If  you  study  the  development  in  the 
institutions  of  learning  in  which  it  began  you  will  find  that  a  good 
many  institutions  have  really  simply  copied  other  institutions,  and 
have  not  felt  within  themselves  the  necessity  and  impulse  to  do  this 
sort  of  thing.  You  will  find  this  situation  existed  in  a  number  of 
institutions.  In  the  first  place  we  changed  in  going  from  the  old  cut 
and  dried  specific  college  course  to  what  is  called  the  elective  system. 
When  students  began  to  elect  a  revelation  came  which  caused  cold 
chills  to  run  down  the  backs  of  our  old  fogies.  They  discovered  that 
students  in  the  university  preparing  for  practical  life  selected  subjects 
almost  exclusively  with  reference  to  their  future  work  supposing  these 
subjects  would  be  better  for  them  after  they  got  out  in  life.  At  the 
beginning  the  changes  were  slow.  The  electives  were  not  such  as  to 
bring  one  very  closely  into  life.  History  was  valuable,  and  economics. 
Students  selected  them.  It  was  necessary  in  the  classical  departments 
to  develop  teachers'  courses  because  the  general  demand  was  for  that 
sort  of  training  which  would  help  people  in  teaching.  The  more  the 
elective  system  developed  the  more  that  fact  became  patent, — that 
the  student's  primary  motive  was  to  take  those  subjects  which  would 
be  in  preparation  for  the  life  he  intended  to  enter. 

In  order  to  meet  this  situation  there  began  a  rapid  process  of  de- 
velopment in  the  direction  of  practical  life  in  such  subjects  as  science, 
chemistry,  physics,  etc.  Then  the  outside  world  demanded  of  the 
chemical  departments  of  the  university  that  they  do  certain  practical 
things;  that  they  analyze  water  and  various  other  things.  They  were 
forced  to  do  it  by  the  necessities  of  the  situation.  Thev  saw  how 
extremely  valuable  these  things  were  to  the  civilization  of  the  present 
time.  The  same  thing  was  true  of  physics,  and  even  of  mathematics, 
which  was  considered  far  removed  from  practical  life.  Economics  is 
another.  The  study  of  economics  began  with  .a  study  of  some  very 
remote  propositions  in  regard  to  wealth,  value,  exchange,  etc.  These 
topics  were  put  down  in  the  text  books ;  but  when  men  really  began  in 
earnest  to  discuss  the  subject  of  economics  and  investigate  it  they 
began  to  see  its  practical  bearing,  and  developed  special  courses  along 
these  lines.  The  development  of  the  science  itself  required  this  as 
well  as  the  necessity  of  studying  practical  life.  The  men  had  to  collect 
data  and  they  set  students  at  work  in  their  seminary  courses  on  it. 
They  thus  developed  courses  in  money  and  banking,  transportation, 
and  commercial  geography;  all  of  these  before  commercial  education 
entered  into  university  life  and  simply  as  a  necessary  development. 

So  through  other  departments.  The  study  of  languages;  the  de- 
mand for  teaching  modern  languages  so  that  they  would  be  of  some 
practical  use  to  people.  The  experience  of  a  large  number  of  people 
who  went  to  Europe,  after  studying  a  Httle  German  or  French,  was 
that  they  could  not  speak  the  languages  sufficiently  to  be  understood. 

(215) 


12 

This  led  to  the  demand  for  practical  courses  in  the  foreign  languages 
before  commercial  education  became  established. 

Accompanying  this  rapid  development  of  courses  of  a  practical 
character  which  you  can  trace  in  the  proceedings  of  the  educational 
associations  all  over  the  country,  was  a  study  of  the  nature  and  educa- 
tional value  of  these  new  subjects.  Every  subject  has  been  obliged 
to  fight  its  way  by  showing  that  it  was  good  for  something;  that  it 
was  educational  in  character.  The  universities  said  it  might  be  good 
for  particular  public  purposes,  but  not  for  the  university.  But  grad- 
ually history,  economics,  science,  fought  its  way,  and  convinced  fair 
minded  university  people  that  the  student  could  gain  culture  as  well 
by  a  study  of  those  subjects  as  by  a  studv  of  Greek  and  Latin ;  some 
were  inclined  to  say  a  broader  culture.  Now  these  three  movements 
went  on  side  by  side — ^the  demand  by  students  for  practical  courses 
and  the  selection  of  them ;  the  development  of  all  branches  of  science 
and  the  humanities  in  the  direction  of  practical  life;  and  the  demon- 
stration of  the  practical  educational  value  of  these  courses. 

The  movement  from  the  outside  also  forced  attention  to  commer- 
cial education.  It  came  from  the  young  people  themselves.  Those 
who  studied  the  high  school  situation,  the  preparatory  school  people, 
saw  that  a  considerable  proportion  of  the  graduating  classes,  and  per- 
haps much  of  the  best  material,  did  not  go  to  college  but  went  directly 
into  business.  They  did  not  think  it  necessary  to  go  to  college 
if  they  were  going  into  business.  It  was  felt  that  a  certain  type  of 
young  men  ought  to  have  a  broader  training  than  the  preparatory 
school  gave  and  it  was  a  great  mistake  that  many  who  were  able  to 
do  so  were  not  going  to  college.  Why  was  it?  A  man  says,  "My  son 
is  going  into  business  and  why  should  he  go  to  college  ?  Of  course  it 
is  a  nice  thing  to  have  a  college  education,  belong  to  a  fraternity  and 
wear  a  pin,  attend  university  banquets,  and  so  on;  all  this  gives  a 
little  prestige  and  a  sort  of  social  power.  But  after  all,  so  far  as  any 
real  practical  value  is  concerned,  it  did  not  amount  to  anything." 
The  universities  began  to  wonder  if  there  was  any  truth  in  the  state- 
ment and  this  was  forced  upon  the  attention  of  state  univ^ersities  first 
and  they  could  not  ignore  it.  They  were  supposed  to  be  of  use  to  the 
State  and  they  were  obliged  to  recognize  the  fact  that  a  constantly 
increasing  proportion  of  the  best  students  were  not  going  to  college  at 
all,  but  directly  into  business.  Business  men  have  been  criticizing 
the  universities  for  along  time  because  they  said  they  were  not  practi- 
cal; because  their  students  were  "no  good."  When  they  got  out  of 
college  they  had  to  unlearn  so  much ;  and  many  students  were  unable 
to  spell,  to  write  good  English,  and  so  on,  and  these  criticisms  were 
freely  made.  Business  men  made  themselves  felt  by  their  influence 
on  boards  of  trustees,  in  the  press,  and  in  every  possible  way.  It  was 
this  movement  from  within  and  this  movement  from  without  that 

(216) 


13 

culminated  in  the  establishment  of  commercial  courses  in.  our  colleges 
and  universities. 

When  we  began  to  recognize  the  need  of  a  training  that  would 
assist  men  to  go  into  business,  we  discovered  that  we  had  already- 
developed  a  large  number  of  courses  which  were  valuable  for  this  very 
use.  To  correlate  them  and  to  put  them  together  in  such  a  way  as  to 
be  effective  was  the  next  thing.  The  student  made  his  own  selections ; 
some  things  he  needed ;  some  things  he  did  not.  We  found  gaps  here 
and  there  which  would  need  to  be  filled  up;  we  discovered  many  things 
which  had  been  taught  from  time  immemorial  which  should  still  be 
taught,  but  in  a  different  way.  English  was  not  being  taught  right; 
students  could  not  write  a  decent  letter;  they  could  not  make  a  math- 
ematical calculation  after  going  through  a  mathematical  course.  So 
the  demand  came  for  making  the  courses  more  efficient.  A  perfect 
transformation  took  place  in  the  methods  of  teaching  English.  And 
the  demand  grows,  to  make  efficient  for  practical  purposes  the  courses 
given  in  our  colleges  and  universities.  The  movement  is  really  a  logi- 
cal development  out  of  the  whole  situation.  It  is  a  demand  to  adapt 
universitv  work  to  the  needs  of  men  in  this  twentieth  century.  The 
line  of  development  has  been  different  in  different  universities,  but  it 
has  been  substantially  the  same.  Some  have  done  one  thing  and  some 
another,  but  the  thing  is  here,  we  are  meeting  it,  and  it  is  certainly 
here  to  stav. 


Professor  E.  R.  Dewsnup 
University  of  Chicago 

While  listening  to  the  very  interesting  paper  and  to  the  equally 
interesting  discussion,  some  thoughts  have  occurred  to  me  which  I 
think  it  is  well  we  should  keep  in  mind. 

Professor  Cummings  in  his  paper  referred  to  the  real  nature  of 
university  training.  He  said  that  a  university  training  is  something 
different  from  a  professional  or  technical  education  or  an  education 
such  as  can  be  obtained  in  a  business  college.  While  we  all  agree,  I 
think,  that  the  business  colleges  are  doing  a  very  valuable  work,  yet 
it  is  hardly  an  educational  work.  The  stenographer  and  bookkeeper 
want  to  earn  money  and  they  want  that  certain  training  which 
enables  them  to  get  money  in  the  shortest  possible  space  of  time. 
That  is  not  education.  The  origin  of  the  university  course  of  educa- 
tion was  practically  professional.  We  talk  about  our  course  in  liberal 
arts,  but  I  want  to  know  in  the  original  university  was  there  ever  a 
liberal  arts  course?  They  studied  Latin,  but  after  the  revival  of 
learning  they  did  not  study  Greek.  Why  did  they  study  Latin? 
It  was  the  language  of  the  time ;  it  was  the  language  of  communication 
between   nations;   there   Vv^as   a   distinctly   practical   purpose   to   the 

(217) 


14 

attention  gi^en  to  the  study  of  Latin  which  to  some  extent  is  proved 
by  the  neglect  of  the  language  until  the  revival  of  learning.  More- 
over, when  we  consider  the  nature  of  the  courses  taken  in  the  medi- 
aeval universities,  we  find  that  they  were  professional  and  the  colleges 
out  of  which  the  universities  sprang  were  essentially  the  same  in 
character.  It  was  the  predominant  idea  of  education.  The  training 
for  theory  was  just  as  much  professional  as  for  law,  or  medicine  or 
commerce.  I  think,  then,  we  are  justified  in  coming  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  earliest  idea  of  education  was  professional,  and  not  general 
culture  apart  from  the  professional. 

I  would  like  to  draw  a  distinction  between  technical  and  trade 
schools.  We  talk  about  technical  education  including  the  trade 
schools.  The  two  should  be  distinguished.  The  question  whether 
the  trade  school  is  a  useful  adjunct  to  the  university  has  been  dis- 
cussed. I  define  the  two  in  this  way.  The  technical  school  gives 
that  broad  scientific  knowledge  and  a  general  knowledge  of  the  in- 
dustries which  each  student  should  get.  The  trade  school  prepares 
specifically  for  the  larger  and  original  work  of  the  man's  later  occupa- 
tion. There  has  been  a  good  deal  of  mistrust  as  to  whether  the  uni- 
versity prepares  the  young  man  for  the  larger  and  original  work  of  a 
business  life.  In  some  respects  the  university  cannot.  I  have  been 
associated  both  in  Chicago  and  at  Manchester  with  the  courses  in 
commercial  education  as  conducted  by  these  universities,  and  I  have 
always  tried  to  impress  upon  my  students  that  the  greatest  asset  they 
can  have  will  be  good  sense  and  experience;  that  without  them  they 
can  make  no  success.  We  can  only  give  them  the  broad  training  and 
general  education  which  they  can  convert  into  material  results.  We 
may  try  to  make  the  student  understand  something  of  the  general 
relationship  of  the  practical  world,  but  we  are  not  expected  to  qualify 
him  to  go  from  school  into  business  and  industrial  life  and  take  up  the 
work  as  though  to  the  manor  born. 

I  feel  inclined  to  disagree  with  one  point  which  Professor  Scott 
makes  and  that  is  with  regard  to  the  development  of  the  science  of 
political  economy  as  closely  associated  with  the  development  of  com- 
mercial education.  I  really  think,  as  regards  our  ow^n  science,  as 
promulgated  by  its  earliest  teachers  and  as  understood  by  Adam 
Smith  and  taught  by  him  to  some  extent,  it  was  very  largely  practical 
in  character.  Questions  qf  definition,  theory,  scope  and  method  did 
not  receive  great  prominence. 

The  point  comes  up  in  connection  with  the  business  world  that  the 
university  courses  have  been  rather  unfairly  treated.  The  university 
man  has  sometimes  proved  a  failure  in  business;  we  might  say  very 
frequently  so,  and  it  has  been  charged  to  university  education.  As  an 
instructor  and  an  economist  I  wish  to  refute  the  charge  and  to  say 
that  the  potent  factor  has  not  been  so  much  the  university  education, 

(218) 


15 

except  in  some  special  cases,  but  the  failure  of  social  training.  All  our 
earlier  business  men,  and  this  is  true  of  England  in  particular,  sprung 
up  from  the  custom  offices.  They  made  their  positions.  After  they 
had  accumulated  a  certain  amount  of  wealth,  their  children  were 
brought  up  in  different  circumstances.  They  were  largely  left  to 
the  care  of  servants.  The  result  of  that  action  can  only  be  detrimental. 
I  think  that  this  state  of  affairs  very  largely  accounts  for  the  failure  of 
our  young  men  of  the  present  day  who  are  placed  in  positions  of 
responsibility.  It  is  due  to  the  failure  of  social  training,  arising  from 
the  causes  pointed  out,  and  not  to  the  university  training  which,  in  all 
but  comparatively  few  instances,  exerts  an  elevating  influence  on  the 
individual.  This  is  a  point  the  business  world  should  take  into  con- 
sideration in  connection  with  commercial  education. 

Now  what  shall  we  aim  at  in  arranging  our  courses  in  commercial 
education?  In  my  work  in  England  I  was  very  much  discouraged  at 
times  to  find  that  the  business  and  commercial  men  of  the  country 
favored,  or  at  least  a  certain  portion  of  them  did,  preparation  for 
commercial  business,  but  on  a  very  restricted  scale.  We  want  a  man 
to  have  a  knowledge  of  corporations,  a  sufficient  knowledge  of  com- 
mercial law  to  enable  him  to  keep  out  of  the  hands  of  lawyers,  some 
knowledge  of  general  economics  and  modern  languages.  We  do  not 
want  him  to  know  anything  about  the  fine  arts  or  mechanics.  He 
should  know  something  of  mathematics  and  enough  of  statistics  to  be 
able  to  use  them.  Some  knowledge  of  commercial  geography  was  also 
desired.  This  was  a  disappointing  curriculum,  but  at  the  same  time, 
if  we  were  to  get  business  leaders  interested  in  our  university  education, 
we  would  have  to  offer  something  approximate  to  what  they  desired. 
One  university,  the  University  of  London,  I  think,  departed  com- 
pletely from  this  idea,  and  in  their  syllabus  they  offered  a  curriculum 
intended  to  give  that  broad  training  in  economic  analysis,  that  origi- 
nality of  opinion  and  independence  of  reasoning,  that  is  far  more 
valuable  to  business  men  in  their  varied  associations  than  many  sub- 
jects offered  in  the  universities.  At  Victoria  University  one  may 
now  get  a  bachelor  of  commerce  degree,  by  taking  a  course  that 
resembles  to  some  extent  the  London  course,  a  course  which  gives 
that  broad  mental  grasp  of  things  which  is  necessary  for  entering  into 
business  life.  But  if  you  wish  you  may  substitute.  A  man  may  take 
up  the  study  of  active  industries,  railway  transportation,  banking,  so 
that  he  gets  a  comparatively  small  amount  of  general  economic  train- 
ing in  his  whole  work. 

Now  there  is  some  doubt  in  my  mind  whether  we  should  attempt 
to  give  a  man  equipment  in  a  number  of  different  subjects.  Should 
he  know  a  little  economics,  a  little  law,  a  little  mathematics,  and  a 
little  of  this  or  that?  What  is  the  mental  value  of  such  work?  Does 
not  the  spreading  of  his  college  course  over  so  many  subjects  tend  to 

(219) 


16 

curtail  the  educational  values  of  these  subjects?  Mathematics  has  an 
educational  value,  the  classics  have  another,  sociology  and  economics 
have  another.  But  has  the  study  of  a  small  portion  of  each  of  these 
subjects  the  educational  value  that  is  generally  attributed  to  the  sub- 
ject ?  Judging  from  the  results  of  the  young  men  that  have  come  out 
of  English  institutions  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  they  have  not.  In 
arranging  our  educational  courses  we  need  more  specialization  on 
broader  lines.  I  believe  that  a  man  should  know  the  general  founda- 
tions of  economic  analysis,  have  an  acquaintance  with  economic  facts, 
and  that  he  should  be  encouraged  to  specialization  after  getting  that 
broad  foundation  which  must  include  a  certain  training  in  other  lines 
during  his  first  two  first  years,  training  to  some  extent  in  history, 
mathematics,  etc.  Instead  of  saying  we  are  training  a  man  in  railroad 
transportation  by  giving  him  a  couple  of  quarters'  work  in  that  sub- 
ject, we  should  devote  far  more  of  his  time  to  it.  We  should  not 
think  we  are  preparing  a  man  for  any  specific  field,  whether  railroading, 
journalism,  or  banking,  or  what  not,  when  we  give  him  only  a  smatter- 
ing of  the  subject.  If  that  is  going  to  be  the  case,  I  would  far  rather 
concentrate  the  man's  study  on  general  economics,  or  general  mathe- 
matics. If  we  are  going  to  prepare  a  man  for  going  into  transporta- 
tion or  banking,  we  should  delve  deeply  into  these  subjects  and  get 
into  touch  with  the  actual  affairs  of  life.  It  should  be  the  idea  that  a 
man  is  to  acquire  knowledge  which  will  enable  him  to  go  into  these 
businesses  and  get  on  better  and  faster  than  his  untrained  fellow,  and 
that  he  can  do  this  is  a  proof  of  the  value  of  the  university  training. 
If  he  does  not  attain  that  end,  it  is  a  proof  that  the  university  courses 
are  not  desirable. 

By  a  proper  arrangement  I  believe  that  we  can  have  this  detailed 
study  of  particular  branches.  And  here  I  would  bring  in  another 
thought.  I  would  like  to  see  some  of  the  day  courses  transferred  to 
the  evenings.  Not  duplicated,  but  actually  transferred.  I  do  not 
see  why  young  men  or  women  should  not  be  prepared  to  attend  one 
or  two  courses  in  the  evening  as  well  as  in  the  day  time.  The  reason 
is  that  we  can  associate  with  our  students,  men  in  business  who  also 
want  to  study  along  these  lines.  Do  you  not  think  that  this  combi- 
nation would  produce  better  final  results?  I  think  so.  I  know  on 
a  small  scale  the  results  have  been  very  satisfactory.  I  do  not  say 
that  we  should  admit  Tom,  Dick,  and  Harry  into  such  classes  There 
are  large  numbers  of  young  men  in  the  commercial  world  who  should 
enter,  men  who  are  fitted  through  their  experience  to  enter  such 
classes,  and  their  seriousness  and  enthusiasm  must  be  a  stimulant  to 
the  students  in  the  regular  courses  of  training,  and  so  enable  us  to 
make  these  courses  more  beneficial. 

I  think  then  that  the  issue  lies  in  a  correlation  of  studies  and  a 
more  thorough  foundation.      I  believe  in  the  study  of  economics  and 

(220) 


17 

in  basing  our  studies  upon  that  in  so  far  as  we  can  do  so ;  a  much  more 
elaborate  study  of  particular  fields,  such  as  transportation,  banking, 
etc.,  an  association,  in  so  far  as  possible,  with  the  practical  side  of  life. 
Inculcate  in  young  men  the  idea  that  there  must  be  no  self-conscious 
or  petty  side  to  the  university  trained  man.  Let  the  university 
trained  and  the  untrained  man  go  into  the  market  under  precisely  the 
same  conditions,  and  if  the  university  trained  man  is  not  able  to  keep 
his  own  in  the  market,  it  is  a  reflection  upon  university  training  and 
he  is  not  needed  in  the  market  of  the  dav. 


•  Mr.  McLeish 

In  my  judgment  the  failure  of  the  college  trained  man  in  commer- 
cial life  is  due  less  to  his  university  training  or  to  his  defective  social 
training  than  it  is  due  to  the  man  himself;  to  his  want  of  sincerity,  his 
want  of  honesty,  his  want  of  thoroughness,  thoughtfulness  and  hard 
work.  There  are  no  prizes  at  all,  there  is  no  inducement  at  all  to  the 
young  man  who  is  in  any  of  these  senses  defective  in  his  college  course. 
The  shirk  in  college  work  will  be  a  shirk  in  business.  The  man  who  thinks 
that  commercial  life  is  an  easy  way  to  get  a  living  makes  a  mistake. 
The  man  who  does  not  learn  how  to  work,  how  to  properly  estimate 
his  own  powers  and  properly  apply  them  to  the  university  work  of 
preparation  to  his  entrance  upon  commercial  life  is  certain  to  prove  a 
failure  when  he  does  enter  it. 


SHOULD  INSTRUCTION  IN  A  UNIVERSITY  COURSE  IN 
COMMERCE  BE  TECHNICAL? 

By  Professor  H.  S.  Person,  Ph.D. 

Secretary,  Amos  Tuck  School  of  Finance  and  Administration 

Dartmouth  College 

It  seems  desirable  at  the  beginning  of  this  discussion  to  emphasize 
a  distinction  that  is  suggested  in  the  arrangement  of  the  program  of 
this  conference,  the  distinction  between  technical  courses  and  practice 
courses.  By  a  technical,  or  practical,  course,  I  mean  any  course 
of  study  that  has  a  measurable  relation  to  the  training  of  a  man 
for  some  definite  activity;  by  a  practice  course  I  mean  a  course  of 
study  that  aims  to  train  a  man  to  perform  with  dexterity  some 
activity — in  most  cases  a  physical,  in  rare  cases  a  mental  one.  A 
technical  course  aims  at  imparting  knowledge  to  be  used  later  in  the 
formation  of  judgments;  a  practice  course  at  forming  habits  of  action. 
The  latter,  a  psychologist  might  say,  selects  some  pathway  of  the  dis- 
charge of  nervous  energy,  and  repeatedly  works  it  until  all  incoming 
currents  tend  to  escape  by  way  of  it ;  the  technical  course  is  one  that 
aims  to  help  the  student  to  acquire  knowledge  concerning  a  business 

(221) 


18 

and  to  acquire  the  power  of  forming  good  judgments  in  its  pursuit. 
It  mav  be  that  all  practice  courses  are  technical  courses,  but  they 
form  but  a  small  portion  of  the  whole  group  of  technical  courses.  The 
present  contribution  to  this  discussion  has  reference  to  technical 
courses  that  are  not  practice  courses. 

In  answer  to  vour  question  as  to  whether  a  course  of  instruction  in 
commerce  of  university  rank  should  be  technical,  I  beg  leave  in  the 
first  place  to  call  your  attention  to  the  aim  of  higher  commercial  edu- 
cation as  evidenced  by  its  origin  and  development.  Commercial 
education  is  one  aspect  of  our  general  educational  systems,  differen- 
tiated and  developed  within  recent  years  in  response  to  what  we  be- 
lieve to  be  a  need  of  industry  that  has  presented  itself  with  the  growing 
complexity  of  industrial  affairs.  The  aim  of  commercial  education  is 
the  aim  of  the  educational  system  as  a  whole,  intensified  along  certain 
lines.  The  aim  of  an  educational  system  as  a  whole,  especially  of  a 
system  of  free  public  education  like  our  own,  is,  in  the  first  place,  for 
the  social  welfare,  to  raise  the  general  level  of  intelligence,  and  in  the 
second  place,  to  select  and  equip  in  each  new  generation  those  best 
suited  by  natural  aptitude  and  by  training  for  the  performance  of  the 
various  social  functions.  The  aim  of  education  is  equipment  for 
service — efificiency  in  life. 

The  first  aim  of  education,  the  raising  of  the  general  level  of  intelli- 
gence, is  not  to  develop  merely  a  passive  better  intelligence,  but  to 
develop  better  intelligence  in  action.  As  Adam  Smith  said,  it  is  for 
better  intelligence  on  the  part  of  the  people  in  judging  of  public 
affairs,  while  we  add,  it  is  for  better  intelligence  in  the  doing  of 
whatever  the  individual  sets  himself  to  do.  No  one,  not  even  the 
extremist  who  maintains  that  the  chief  aim  of  education  is  "culture," 
would  defend  the  suggestion  that  education  should  aim  to  develop 
les  homnies  faineants.  An  intelHgence  that  manifests  itself  in  social 
life,  in  social  service,  in  plying  one's  vocation,  is  the  aim. 

Education  as  a  process  of  social  selection  in  a  democratic  society 
is  a  conception  of  its  function  which  has  developed  under  the  influence 
of  recent  habits  of  thought.  It  aims  at  increasing  efficiency,  primarily 
by  affording  all  a  broad  general  education,  but  also  by  selecting 
individuals  differently  constituted  by  nature  for  the  performance  of 
activities  for  which  they  are  respectively  best  adapted.  In  this  con- 
ception of  education,  efficiency  is  still  more  obviously  the  aim.  Whether 
one  takes  the  social  point  of  view,  that  society  is  to  secure  better  ser- 
vice ;  or  whether  one  take  the  individual  point  of  view,  that  the  indi- 
vidual is  to  make  a  better  success  in  Hfe — increased  efficiency  is  the 
central  idea. 

An  educational  system  accomplishes  this  increasing  of  efificiency 
bv  the  selection  and  training  of  favored  individuals,  by  the  training  of 
selected  individuals  through  the  development  of  special  organs,  each 

(222) 


19 

aiming  to  select  and  train  for  a  special  activity  or  group  of  activities. 
Each  of  these  new  organs  is  called  into  being  by  a  recognition  of  the 
fact  that  some  form  of  life  work  finds  itself  in  complex  conditions  and 
in  need  of  a  higher  degree  of  intelligence  for  the  meeting  of  these  con- 
ditions. As  a  society  progresses,  the  number  of  such  forms  of  life  work 
increases.  A  century  ago  the  minister  needed  special  training,  then 
the  physician  and  the  lawyer,  then  the  engineer,  then  the  electrical 
engineer  and  the  civil  engineer,  then  (I  am  not  observing  chronology) 
the  teacher,  then  the  teacher  of  the  classics,  the  teacher  of  modern 
languages,  the  teacher  of  sciences,  and  now  of  histor}-  and  of  economics. 
Special  knowledge  in  all  these  professions  is  demanded;  in  other  words, 
greater  technical  efficiency. 

That  organ  to  which  we  have  given  the  name  commercial  education, 
has  developed  according  to  the  same  general  principle,  and  for  the 
same  general  purpose — increased  efficiency.  In  its  earlier  form  it 
was  based  upon  the  recognition  that  certain  classes  of  industrial 
activity  required  special  skill  in  the  performance  of  routine  duties,  and 
there  appeared  business  colleges  and  commercial  schools.  In  its  later 
more  highly  developed  form,  to  which  we  have  given  the  name  higher 
commercial  education,  it  is  based  upon  the  recognition  that  business 
presents  complex  situations  and  that  a  high  degree  of  special  intelli- 
gence is  required  of  men  who  are  to  handle  these  situations.  So  a 
quarter  of  a  century  ago  a  far-sighted  man  saw  what  business  was 
beginning  to  require  and  the  Wharton  School  appeared.  In  all  of  his 
utterances  on  the  new  movement  I  read  a  demand  for  greater  effi- 
ciency. Less  than  a  decade  ago  there  was  generally  recognized  what 
business  has  come  to  need,  and  that  group  of  schools  of  which  the  com- 
mercial department  ot  this  university  is  one,  came  into  being.  In  all 
the  discussions  through  which  the  movement  worked  itself  out,  I  find 
again  the  demand  for  increased  efficiency  in  men  entering  business. 
I  do  not  find  the  argument,  "A  course  in  commerce  will  attract  stu- 
dents to  my  institution;  "and  but  once  or  twice  the  statement,  "A 
course  in  commerce  will  attract  to  the  university  and  give  to  them  a 
general  training,  men  who  would  otherwise  not  see  the  advantage  of 
higher  education  of  any  sort;"  but  rather  the  argument,  "A  course  in 
commerce  is  needed  by  industry ;  it  will  increase  to  his  own  advantage 
the  efficiency  of  the  young  man  entering  business,  it  will  increase  to 
the  advantage  of  the  business  man  the  efficiency  of  the  force  which  he 
employs,  it  will  increase  the  efficiency  of  the  United  States  in  inter- 
national trade. " 

Agreeing  that  the  aim  of  education,  especially  of  those  organs  of 
education  whose  function  is  one  of  selection,  of  training  for  special 
activities,  is  to  secure  greater  efficiency  in  life  work;  and  that  higher 
commercial  education  is  one  of  these  special  organs,  we  have  estab- 
lished a  satisfactory  basis  for  a  consideration  of  the  nature  of  the  in- 

(223) 


20 

struction  necessary  to  effect  the  purpose  of  university  commercial 
education.  It  seems  an  almost  obvious  conclusion  that  the  instruction 
should  be  technical.  It  is  desirable,  however,  to  examine  this  con- 
clusion at  length. 

A  more  careful  examination  of  the  industrial  situation  which  has 
given  rise  to  commercial  education,  brings  to  light  the  following  facts 
concerning  that  situation.  First,  that  the  more  responsible  positions 
in  business  activity  require  a  broader  foundation  of  knowledge  than  is 
acquired  by  the  average  man  at  the  end  of  his  preparatory  school  work, 
say  at  the  age  of  eighteen.  This  is  undeniably  true  if  so-called  ex- 
perience in  business  •  no  longer  possesses  the  educational  value  it 
once  possessed.  Second,  experience  today  does  not  have  the 
educational  value  it  formerly  possessed,  because  the  entrance  into 
industrial  service  is  through  the  channels  of  routine  positions  so 
specialized  and  narrow  as  not  to  afford  the  opportunity  for  contact 
with  many  sides  of  a  business.  The  young  man  seldom  enters  busi- 
ness today  as  a  general  utility  man — he  enters  as  a  routine  clerk  with 
limited  activities.  Third,  not  only  is  the  position  bv  which  a  young 
man  enters  business  so  specialized  and  narrow  as  to  shut  off  the  view 
of  the  business  as  a  whole,  but  every  important  business  as  a  whole 
has  come  to  be  so  very  complex  and  has  developed  so  many  sides  that 
the  mastering  of  it  requires  the  most  favorable  circumstances.  On 
the  one  hand,  it  has  come  to  pass  that  every  important  business  re- 
quires circumstances  the  most  favorable  for  the  mastering  of  it;  on 
the  other  hand,  it  has  come  to  pass  that  the  routine  position  presents 
obstacles  that  make  it  almost  impossible  to  master  it  as  a  whole.  It 
seems  now  almost  a  sine  qua  non  to  rapid  promotion  from  routine 
positions  to  managerial  positions  that  the  young  man  shall  have  before 
entering  the  routine  position,  not  only  a  generally  well  trained 
mind  but  also  as  thorough  a  knowledge  as  possible  of  business  in  its 
broadest  aspects.  With  such  a  knowledge  his  routine  work  will  be  a 
live,  not  a  dead  thing;  he  will  perceive  its  relation  to  the  whole;  he  will 
perceive  the  relation  of  his  work  to  that  of  other  clerks;  he  will  per- 
form his  services  rationally,  not  as  a  mere  machine.  A  knowledge  of 
these  relationships  is  a  prerequisite  to  the  performance  of  responsible 
managerial  duties. 

We  see  in  this  analysis  two  demands  made  by  the  business  world 
upon  our  educational  institutions  as  leading  to  greater  efficiency. 
There  is  a  demand,  on  the  one  hand,  that  colleges  shall  send  to  it  young 
men  as  intelligent  and  broad  minded  as  possible.  To  meet  this 
particular  demand  is  not  the  special  function  of  commercial  education. 
It  has  been  met  and  is  now  met  by  the  non-commercial  courses  of  the 
college.  There  is  no  question  but  that  the  college  course  which  has 
no  reference  to  business  makes  for  efficiency  in  business  by  making  the 
young  man  more  capable  of  getting  something  out  of  his  business 

(224) 


21 

experience.  It  has  its  defects.  It  does  not  make  for  as  great  an 
efficiency  in  business  as  it  would  did  it  ofifer  instruction  in  some  sub- 
jects of  a  more  commercial  nature.  That  feature  of  college  life  which 
trains  men  to  better  meet  their  fellow  men,  which  makes  them  more 
tactful,  more  able  to  adjust  themselves  to  unexpected  situations,  and 
in  that  way  more  efficient,  often  produces  a  misdirection  of  energy, 
and  does  not  conduce  to  professional  enthusiasm.  But  after  all, 
when  the  balance  is  struck,  the  ordinary  college  course  is  so  successful 
in  meeting  the  business  world's  first  demand  for  efficiency,  that  we 
must  look  elsewhere  for  the  raison  d'etre  of  commercial  courses. 

This  is  found  in  the  second  demand  of  business  for  instruction  that 
shall  increase  the  efficiency  of  the  young  man  entering  business.  This 
second  demand  is  for  greater  technical  efficiency,  not  a  technical 
efficiency  substituted  for  the  more  general  efficiency  afforded  by  non- 
commercial instruction,  but  a  technical  efficiency  in  addition  to  and 
built  upon  the  more  general  efficiency.  It  is  in  the  addition  of  this 
technical  efficiency  that  commercial  education  finds  its  justification. 
There  is  no  sound  ground  for  the  addition  of  a  series  of  business 
courses  to  the  college  curriculum  that  does  not  make  up  in  an  abundant 
measure  by  the  addition  of  a  new  sort  of  efficiency  for  its  encroach- 
ments upon  the  liberal  course.  For  I  believe  that  not  to  take  the 
liberal  arts  course  is  for  any  college  graduate  a  loss,  and  that  loss  is 
justifiable  only  by  at  least  a  corresponding  gain  along  some  other  line. 
The  only  corresponding  gain  given  by  a  commercial  course  which 
really  deserves  the  name — that  is  a  course  offering  something  besides 
theoretical  and  applied  economics — is  the  gain  of  increased  technical 
efficiency.  A  commercial  course  that  is  onlv  a  course  in  economics 
renamed  cannot  justify  itself  in  claiming  to  offer  something  other  than 
was  already  offered  by  the  liberal  college  course.  A  college  with  a 
well  organized  course  in  economics  offers  as  much.  The  establishment 
of  a  new  organ  of  commercial  education  must  justify  itself  by  offering 
something  new  and  that  new  thing  must  be  technical  training. 

This  technical  efficiency  consists,  of  course,  in  a  knowledge  of 
technical  facts,  and  in  its  highest  forms  what  we  may  call,  for  want  of 
a  better  term,  of  technical  wisdom.  It  consists  also  of  something 
more,  of  an  esprit  that  we  call  professional  enthusiasm.  To  inspire  in 
the  student  an  enthusiasm  for  that  business  which  he  intends  to  enter 
should  be  one  of  the  most  serious  aims  of  commercial  education.  To 
create  the  force  for  its  use  is  no  less  important  than  to  give  the  student 
the  instrument.  Some  of  the  most  serious  criticisms  of  college  train- 
ing for  business,  those  of  Mr.  Carnegie,  for  instance,  are  based  upon  the 
failure  of  the  college  course  to  inspire  business  spirit.  The  demand  of 
the  business  world  for  greater  technical  efficiency  is  a  two-sided  one; 
one  side  is  for  the  efficiency  that  results  from  a  knowledge  of  facts, 
the  other  side  is  for  the  efficiency  that  results  from  the  possession  of  an 

(223) 


22 

enthusiasm  for  one's  chosen  work.  A  commercial  course  that  does 
not  create,  in  the  methods  of  its  instruction  and  in  the  close  grouping 
of  its  courses,  this  class  esprit,  is  seriously  defective. 

I  wish  to  avoid  any  possible  misunderstanding  by  emphasizing  my 
view  that  both  the  demands  of  the  business  world  should  be  met  in 
both  of  the  respects  mentioned;  that  young  men  should  be  well  edu- 
cated, broad  minded  men,  and  that  they  should  be  technically  trained. 
I  believe  the  first  demand  is  best  met  by  the  liberal  college  course  and 
college  life ;  I  believe  the  second  is  best  met  by  the  technical  instruction 
and  the  professional  enthusiasm  of  a  genuine  technical  course.  I  be- 
lieve both  should  be  met.  How  to  meet  both  is  a  problem  of  organi- 
zation, of  the  relation  of  the  commercial  course  to  the  general  college 
course.     That  problem  does  not  concern  us  here. 

Assuming  that  we  are  agreed  that  the  justification  of  higher  com- 
mercial education  is  in  its  aim  to  meet  the  need  of  the  industrial  situa- 
tion for  greater  technical  efficiency,  and  that  we  are  further  agreed 
that  the  aim  can  be  accomplished  only  through  technical  instruction, 
there  are  still  present  the  very  pertinent  questions,  "Can  there  be  such 
a  thing  as  a  technical  higher  com.mercial  education  ?  and  what  are  the 
component  courses  that  go  to  make  up  a  technical  commercial  course?" 
I  wish  to  consider  each  of  these  questions  in  turn. 

First,  the  conventional  college  course  is  not  a  technical  course  and 
should  not  be.  As  I  have  already  said,  it  does  increase  indirectly  the 
efficiency  of  the  average  young  man  entering  business  by  making  him 
a  more  intelligent,  broad  minded  man.  But  so  it  does  with  the  young 
man  entering  engineering,  the  law,  medicine  and  any  other  field  of 
activity.  In  my  judgment  it  gives  what  no  technical  course  can  give, 
but  the  technical  course,  on  the  other  hand,  offers  what  no  general 
college  course  can  offer.  They  are  different  influences  producing  dis- 
tinct efficiencies. 

Second,  the  conventional  college  course  modified  by  the  addition 
to  its  curriculum  of  numerous  unusual  courses  in  economics,  courses 
sometimes  called  commercial,  is  not  a  technical  commercial  course,  is 
not  according  to  the  views  we  have  advanced,  a  commercial  course  at 
all.  It  is  a  richer  general  college  course.  It  may  make  a  man  a  better 
informed  man  for  business  purposes ;  it  may  afford  the  desirable  foun- 
dation for  a  real  commercial  course,  but  it  is  not  in  itself  such  a  course. 

Third,  neither  is  the  conventional  college  course  modified  by  the 
addition  of  practice  courses  such  as  are  offered  bv  the  business  college 
a  genuine  higher  commercial  course.  It  deprives  the  student  of  more 
opportunities  than  it  adds.  To  induce  a  student  of  undergraduate 
maturity  to  spend  his  time  at  college  practicing  the  forms  of  account- 
ing, typewriting  or  stenography  for  the  mere  sake  of  the  practice,  is  a 
waste  both  of  the  student's  time  and  of  the  college's  expensive  plant. 
Any  student  with  the  minimum  of  energy  necessary  for  success  in 

(226) 


23 

business  life  can  acquire  these  of  a  vacation,  in  even  the  smallest  vil- 
lage. With  regard  to  accounting,  I  would  make  a  reservation;  it  may 
be,  and  in  most  instances  is  offered  for  something  more  valuable  than 
the  practice. 

Fourth,  a  trulv  higher  commercial  course  is  one  in  which  there  are 
grouped  together  in  close  relation  technical  courses;  courses  that  are 
not  practice  courses  except  where  a  practice  course  may  be  an  instru- 
ment of  instruction  for  more  important  matter;  courses  that  instruct 
in  those  facts  of  business  that  bear  upon  the  live  problems  of  the  busi- 
ness world;  courses  that  handle  business  directly  and  concretely. 
Such  a  curriculum,  both  by  the  grouping  in  close  relation  of  its  compo- 
nent courses  and  by  the  technical  treatment  of  business  facts  and 
problems  in  these  component  courses,  justifies  its  offering  itself  as  a 
higher  commercial  course  because  it  promotes  technical  efficiency. 
What,  then,  are  these  component  courses  that  we  call  technical? 

Let  us  examine  first  the  course  in  accounting.  This  course  is 
alwavs  a  practical  course  but  in  many  instances  is  not  handled  in  a 
wav  that  makes  it  worthy  to  be  given  a  place  in  the  curriculum  of  an 
institution  of  higher  commercial  education.  If  the  instructor's  aim 
is  to  direct  the  student  in  making  a  certain  number  of  entries  accord- 
ing to  certain  prescribed  rules  which  the  student  must  memorize,  the 
course  does  not  measure  up  to  the  standard  of  a  course  in  higher  edu- 
cation. A  course  that  attempts  to  teach  the  petty  details  of  an  ac- 
counting department  wastes  the  student's  time,  for  the  particular 
institution  which  he  enters  may  not  use  that  detail,  and  whatever 
detail  it  does  use  will  be  readily  learned  in  the  first  week  of  service. 
A  course  in  accounting,  however,  in  which  the  making  of  entries  in 
peculiarly  ruled  blank  books  is,  like  the  use  of  a  slide  rule,  a  subsidiary 
process,  in  which  the  real  purpose  is  to  work  out  the  theory  of 
business  organization,  the  real  nature  of  profits,  the  forces  that  influ- 
ence profits,  the  nature  and  causes  of  depreciation,  and  so  on  is  a 
practical  course  worthy  of  study  by  the  maturest  college  mind.  Let 
the  instruction  dwell,  not  upon  whether  borrowed  capital  should  be 
entered  in  some  debit  or  some  credit  column,  but  upon  the  relative 
influence  in  business  of  an  institution's  own  and  of  borrowed  capital 
as  evidenced  bv  the  records  of  the  accountant's  books.  Such  a  course 
is  a  practical  course  that  is  not  a  mere  practice  course. 

Let  us  consider  the  course  of  instruction  that  is  intended  to  equip 
a  voung  man  for  the  business  of  an  import  and  export  merchant.  Shall 
it  consist  of  the  addition  to  the  conventional  college  course  of  a  course 
in  the  history  of  commerce  which  tells  the  student  of  the  commerce 
of  the  Eg}'ptians,  the  Greeks  and  of  the  trade  routes  and  commodities 
of  exchange  of  the  thirteenth  century?  There  is  nothing  in  such 
material  of  instruction  to  warrant  the  name  "commercial  instruction;" 
it  is  instruction  in  history  and  valuable  as  such  in  its  proper  place. 

(227) 


24 

Let  the  course  for  the  student  we  now  have  in  mind  lead  him  to  ask 
himself  and  answer  for  himself  such  inquiries  as  these:  with  what 
countries  and  with  what  commodities  is  the  foreign  trade  of  the 
United  States  increasing?  What  are  the  conditions  to  the  perma- 
nency of  such  increase  ?  What  is  the  routine  of  the  import  and  export 
merchant's  office  and  what  is  the  value  to  the  business  of  this  rou- 
tine ?  What  is  the  significance  of  the  different  regulations  of  different 
shipping  lines?  What  is  the  practical  and  the  legal  nature  of  each  of 
the  phases  of  the  bill  of  lading?  What  is  general  average?  Par- 
ticular average?  Such  questions  as  these  are  practical  and  technical, 
involve  in  their  consideration  great  mental  acumen,  are  what  a  voung 
man  should  consider  before  entering  service,  and  add  that  sort  of 
efficiency  which  business  demands  of  higher  commercial  education. 

Let  us  consider,  for  further  illustration,  a  commercial  course 
adapted  to  the  needs  of  a  young  man  looking  forward  to  the  career  of 
a  banker.  Should  it  consist  of  the  courses  in  economics,  especially  of 
finance,  money  and  banking?  By  all  means.  These  economic  courses, 
however,  were  developed  without  special  reference  to  commercial 
education.  The  process  of  picking  them  out  of  a  university  curriculum 
and  naming  them  commercial  courses  does  not  establish  a  course  in 
higher  education  in  banking,  something  new  offering  a  special  training 
in  banking.  The  new  organ  comes  into  existence  only  when  courses  look- 
ing toward  instruction  in  technical  matters  are  established.  In  addition 
to  studying  the  theory  and  history  of  money  and  banking,  the  student 
should  be  led  to  investigate  the  practical  operations  of  banking,  not 
for  the  purpose  of  learning  routine,  but  for  the  purpose  of  learning 
what  routine  is  for,  what  of  it  is  good,  what  of  it  is  obsolete.  He  should 
study  the  law  of  banking,  not  as  a  course  in  jurisprudence,  not  with 
the  view  of  becoming  able  to  dispense  with  legal  services,  but  in  order 
to  know  what  may  be  his  responsibilities  as  cashier,  president  or 
director.  He  should  study  foreign  exchange;  not  only  the  theory  of 
foreign  exchange  but  the  practical  operations  of  foreign  exchange. 
Let  him  learn  to  know  thoroughly  all  of  the  factors  that  must  enter 
to  make  a  documentary  bill  of  exchange  valid  and  safe ;  let  him  learn 
how  to  work  out  the  problem  of  transferring  money,  to  determine  for 
instance,  from  which  center, — Paris,  Berlin  or  Vienna. — it  is  cheaper 
to  transfer  money  at  a  given  time  and  under  the  given  circumstances. 
Let  the  subject  matter  of  his  courses  be  the  same  as  the  subject  matter 
of  the  discussions  before  bankers'  associations.  Offer  him  a  course 
in  corporation  finance ;  one  that  is  not  merely  a  course  in  Wall  Street 
terminology,  but  one  that  will  enable  him  to  take  the  reports  over  a 
series  of  years  of  any  corporation,  and  work  out,  so  far  as  those  reports 
may  have  intended  to  permit  him  to  work  out,  the  policy  and  the 
financial  condition  of  that  corporation.  Such  instruction  as  this  is, 
in  my   judgment,  instruction  that  will  add  an  efficiency  that  the  non- 

(228) 


25 

technical  instruction  cannot  add.  The  business  world  asks  of  the 
college  that  efficiency  which  comes  from  the  mental  strengthening  of 
a  college  or  university  course;  but  it  asks  of  commercial  training 
another  sort  of  efficiency,  the  efficiency  of  technical  knowledge  and 
of  professional  enthusiasm. 


THE  CHARACTER  OF  COMMERCIAL  EDUCATION:    SHOULD 

IT  BE  TECHNICAL? 

By  M.  H.  Robinson,  Ph.  D. 

Professor  of  Iiijiistry  a>id  Transportation,  University  of  Illinois 

The  expression  "technical  education"  is  plain  and  needs  little 
discussion.  A  technical  commercial  education  means  an  education 
in  the  technique  of  business,  that  is  in  the  practical  routine  of  com- 
mercial operations.  A  man  with  a  technical  commercial  education  is 
fitted  to  take  some  position  in  the  business  organization  and  do  the 
work  which  that  position  demands,  more  or  less  successfully,  according 
to  his  ability,  as  soon  as  he  has  become  acquainted  with  the  local 
conditions  of  the  office  and  of  the  business.  In  banking,  technical 
commercial  education  involves  a  knowledge  of  and  practical  experi- 
ence in  the  organization  and  operation  of  a  bank,  the  routine  work  of 
the  president,  teller,  cashier,  and  auditor,  the  methods  in  use  in  col- 
lecting out-of-town  checks,  of  placing  and  securing  loans,  of  collecting 
and  disbursing  funds,  etc.  In  insurance,  such  an  education  requires 
a  practical  knowledge  of  the  organization  of  the  agency  force,  the 
work  of  the  general  and  special  agents  in  securing  applications  and 
writing  up  such  applicants  for  the  proper  policies,  and  the  work  of  the 
finance  department  in  caring  for  the  reserve  funds.  In  general  manu- 
facturing business,  a  commercial  technical  education  demands  a 
practical  knowledge  of  the  organization  of  the  company  and  of  the 
office;  the  duties,  powers  and  work  of  the  stockholders,  directors,  and 
officers;  the  actual  methods  of  the  credit  department,  the  sales  depart- 
ment, the  advertising  department,  the  auditing  and  accounting 
department,  the  methods  of  purchasing  material,  keeping  stock, 
shipping  goods,  etc.,  etc. 

A  non-technical  commercial  education,  on  the  other  hand,  fits  one 
to  understand  the  general  organization  of  industry  and  its  workings 
without  at  the  same  time  being  able  to  take  part  successfully  in  its 
practical  operation ;  to  understand  the  importance  of  generous  natural 
resources,  of  abundant  capital,  of  skilled  laborers  and  of  wise  industrial 
leaders  without  necessarily  being  a  great  captain  of  industry ;  in  short 
to  understand  economic  and  social  conditions,  the  play  of  economic 
forces  and  the  limitations  imposed  by  political  regulations  upon 
business  operations.  Such  an  education  must  of  necessity  be  supple- 
mented by  practical  experience  in  business  management  but  when  so 

(229) 


26 

supplemented  would,  it  must  be  admitted,  fit  any  man  well  endowed 
with  brains  and  health  to  command  success  in  the  world  of  affairs. 

It  is  generally  conceded  that  it  is  entirely  practicable  to  train  men 
for  definite  positions  in  the  business  organization  in  connection  with 
their  general  education.  This  is  being  done  successfully  in  trade 
schools,  in  business  colleges,  and  in  technical  schools.  Can  similar 
methods  and  a  corresponding  commercial  education  be  provided  for 
the  prospective  business  man  with  equally  good  results?  The  answer 
to  this  question  will  depend  quite  largely  upon  the  answer  to  another: 
"For  what  kind  of  positions  in  the  business  organization  are  our 
commerce  students  preparing  ? ' ' 

The  business  world  is  an  exceedingly  complex  organization;  its 
work  is  minutely  subdivided  and  parcelled  out  to  many  distinct 
classes  of  workers.  It  is  able  to  offer  therefore  all  kinds  of  business 
positions  from  the  general  utility  man  in  the  small  office  to  the  presi- 
dency of  the  billion  dollar  steel  company.  The  university  graduate, 
while  he  will  in  all  probability  be  obliged  to  begin  near  the  foot  of  the 
ladder,  is  nevertheless  definitely  preparing  himself  for  a  position  of 
trust  and  responsibility  in  the  not  too  far  distant  future.  He  aspires 
to  become  a  manager  of  agencies  rather  than  simply  an  agent;  the 
head  of  a  department  in  a  manufacturing  company  rather  than  the 
most  skillful  stenographer;  an  auditor  rather  than  a  bookkeeper;  a 
statistician  rather  than  a  human  adding  machine.  Such  being  the 
case  it  is  of  course  evident  that  the  character  of  the  education  should 
be  shaped  by  the  end  in  view. 

Two  considerations  may  be  urged : 

(1)  The  work  for  which  the  college  student  of  commerce  is  pre- 
paring demands  a  broad  general  education  rather  than  a  narrow 
technical  one.  Positions  of  responsibility  require  good  judgment  in 
regard  to  present  economic  conditions  and  the  prospects  for  the  future, 
an  extensive  knowledge  of  the  market  and  market  facilities  of  different 
states  and  different  countries,  a  comprehensive  grasp  of  the  char- 
acteristic features  of  the  present  industrial  organization  and  of  the 
changes  taking  place  within  it,  together  with  the  causes  and  effects  of 
such  changes;  a  considerable  acquaintance  with  economic  history  and 
a  somewhat  more  detailed  knowledge  of  the  internal  organization  of 
the  typical  corporation  and  its  various  departments;  and  the  general 
principles  of  private  finance,  accounting  and  commercial  law.  All 
these  subjects  lend  themselves  readily  to  university  instruction. 
Moreover  the  young  man  who  enters  upon  his  business  career  without 
such  instruction  is  fortunate  indeed  if  he  has  either  the  time  or  op- 
portunity to  secure  that  broad  understanding  of  business  conditions 
which  such  an  education  gives.  The  business  organization  has  grown 
so  complex,  the  division  of  employment  within  it  has  been  carried  to 
such  Hmits,  each  kind  of  work  is  so  differentiated  from  every  other 

(230) 


27 

kind  of  work  in  character  and  methods,  each  clerk  and  each  officer  is 
so  constantly  immersed  in  his  own  tasks  and  his  own  problems  that 
the  young  man  entering  the  organization  in  one  definite  position  soon 
finds  himself  lost  in  the  routine  of  his  own  duties  unless  he  is  possessed 
of  extraordinary  ability,  exceptional  means  or  exceedingly  fortunate 
business  connections.  Further,  to  obtain  a  general  knowledge  of  the 
economic  world  through  actual  experience  in  all  of  the  important 
departments  of  a  well  organized  business  house  leaves  the  possessor 
of  knowledge  so  gained  hopelessly  behind  in  the  race.  Except  for  the 
fortunate  few,  therefore,  a  general  knowledge  of  economic  conditions, 
of  industrial  organization  and  the  structure  of  modern  business  must 
be  obtained  in  the  university  or  not  at  all. 

(2)  The  most  efficient  training  in  the  technique  of  business  is 
unquestionably  that  furnished  by  actual  experience  in  business  life. 
Moreover  the  graduate  of  the  university  course  in  commerce  must  of 
necessity  receive  such  training  whether  he  wills  or  no.  However  well 
trained  he  may  be  in  the  technique  of  industry  in  the  school  of  com- 
merce, he  is  obliged  to  take  a  subordinate  position  and  work  up.  The 
colleges  are  not  attempting  to  turn  out  fully  equipped  Morgans,  Fields 
and  Carnegies  on  commencement  day.  At  the  most,  they  may  reason- 
ably hope  that  from  their  among  ranks  a  part  of  the  future  leaders, 
together  with  many  subordinates,  of  the  world  of  finance,  trade  and 
industry  may  come.  Consequently  the  university  trained  business 
man  must  serve  an  apprenticeship  of  greater  or  less  duration.  Such 
apprenticeship  will  consist  almost  entirely  of  technical  training  in  his 
chosen  field  of  work.  In  case  his  collegiate  commercial  education  has 
been  shaped  with  the  idea  of  gaining  a  comprehensive  knowledge  of 
the  industrial  organization  and  economic  conditions,  the  technical 
training  that  he  subsequently  obtains  will  form  the  natural  supplement 
to  his  college  course.  In  the  alternate  case,  there  is  great  danger  at 
least  that  the  college  course  will  duplicate  the  business  apprenticeship 
and  attempt  to  do  the  same  work  with  far  less  efficiency. 

It  is  urged  that  it  is  practicable  to  so  arrange  the  commercial 
course  that  the  technical  training  will  accompany  and  thus  supple- 
ment the  more  general  business  education.  Such  a  contention  un- 
doubtedly has  considerable  validity  but  underrates  the  time  that  a 
broad  general  education  appropriate  for  the  young  man  who  is  to 
occupy  a  responsible  position  in  the  business  world  demands.  Such 
an  education  should  include:  1.  Training  in  the  use  of  the  tools  daily 
employed  by  the  educated  business  man,  viz:  reading,  writing, 
arithmetic,  language,  including  in  most  cases  one  or  more  foreign 
languages  and  drawing.  Such  training  is  fundamental  in  its  nature 
and  necessarily  occupies  most  of  the  time  during  the  primary  school, 
a  major  portion  of  the  high  school  period,  and  a  considerable  part  of 
the  college  course.     2.  An  elementary  knowledge  at  least  of  physical 

(231) 


28 

geography,  geology,  botany,  physics,  chemistry,  and  astronomy  in 
both  their  scientific  and  economic  aspects.  This  group  of  subjects 
might  be  crowded  into  a  minor  portion  of  the  high  school  and  college 
course.  Considering  the  important  part  science  plays  in  modern 
industry  the}'  cannot  safely  be  omitted.  3.  A  thorough  understand- 
ing of  the  social  and  political  conditions  under  which  business  is  con- 
ducted. This  part  of  the  course  ought  to  include  a  study  of  local, 
national  and  foreign  political  institutions  and  of  social  organization  at 
least  so  far  as  such  institutions  and  organization  condition  and  limit 
commercial  operations.  To  these  should  be  added  a  general  knowl- 
edge of  international  law  and  a  more  specialized  study  of  commercial 
law.  This  group  of  studies  may  be  begun  in  the  high  school  but  will 
necessarily  occupy  an  important  place  in  the  college  course.  Such 
studies  will  of  course  be  largely  supplemented  by  experience  and 
observation  in  the  world  of  affairs.  4.  A  mastery  of  the  principles 
of  economic  law  and  its  applications  to  the  problems  of  the  business 
world.  This  part  of  the  course  naturally  furnishes  the  backbone  of 
the  university  work  in  commerce  and  includes  commercial  geography, 
economic  history,  economic  principles,  statistics,  and  the  organization 
and  administration  of  commerce,  industry,  finance  and  transporta- 
tion. 5.  Technical  training  in  business  operations,  including  the  or- 
ganization of  a  business  office,  the  proper  division  of  responsibility, 
and  the  routine  work  of  the  various  departments,  purchasing,  manu- 
facturing, sales,  advertising,  accounting,  filing  records,  voucher 
systems,  office  devices,  etc.  Such  training  may  be  furnished  in  con- 
nection with  the  college  course  in  commerce,  as  a  graduate  course 
following  such  a  course,  or  in  the  business  world. 

Two  questions  naturally  arise  at  this  point: 

(1)  Is  the  technical  training  in  business  afforded  by  the  university 
course  an  effective  substitute  for  that  furnished  by  practical  experi- 
ence in  business?  (2)  Granting  that  such  training  may  be  provided, 
is  it  possible  to  arrange  such  a  course  of  study  without  sacrificing  es- 
sential subjects  in  that  broad  education  demanded  by  modern  condi- 
tions on  the  one  hand  or  without  unduly  prolonging  the  university 
course  in  commerce  on  the  other? 

A  final  answer  cannot  be  given  to  the  first  question  at  the  present 
time.  This  much,  however,  may  be  said  with  entire  confidence.  So 
far  as  business  practice  is  reduced  to  a  science,  it  presents  no  inherent 
difficulties  as  a  subject  for  collegiate  instruction.  Such  instruction 
will  demand  teachers  who  are  masters  of  business  routine  and  a  some- 
what extensive  equipment.  It  cannot  be  made  effective  by  lectures, 
reading,  the  use  of  lantern  slides  or  the  inspection  of  sample  pages 
from  a  loose-leaf  ledger.  It  necessitates  an  extensive  equipment  and 
actual  experience  in  the  manipulation  of  machines,  tools,  office  books, 
vouchers,  cost  systems,  letter  files,  and  other  devices  of  the  modern 

(232) 


29 

office.  Technical  commercial  education  thus  demands  two  radical 
changes  from  present  conditions :  (1)  The  employment  of  experienced 
business  men  to  take  charge  of  the  technical  work,  and  (2)  a  commo- 
dious building  equipped  with  a  model  office  for  the  use  of  the  students. 
With  these  changed  conditions,  the  students  would  naturally  organize 
themselves  into  partnerships  and  corporations  and  actually  conduct 
certain  kinds  of  business  by  a  use  of  merchandise  cards.  They  would 
organize  a  bank,  trade  with  each  other,  carry  on  correspondence,  ar- 
range a  filing  system,  keep  books,  advertise  their  business,  make  annual 
reports,  prepare  statistical  charts,  undertake  audits  and  finally  dis- 
solve the  company  and  distribute  the  assets  to  the  owners.  Technical 
commercial  education  more  extensive  and  more  elaborate  than  that 
here  outlined  is  not  only  possible,  it  is  actually  being  carried  on  in 
some  of  the  universities  and  in  many  business  colleges.  That  is  it 
practical  to  train  students  by  this  method  for  routine  positions  in 
business  must  be  conceded;  but  that  such  education  is  an  effective 
substitute  of  the  training  furnished  by  actual  business  experience  is 
as  yet  open  to  doubt.  In  the  first  place,  only  a  part  of  the  ordinary 
business  practice  has  as  yet  been  reduced  to  a  system.  For  those 
important  fields  in  modern  business  not  yet  on  a  scientific  basis  only 
actual  experience  in  real  business  furnishes  an  adequate  preparation. 
In  the  second  place,  such  training  is  based  upon  paper  transactions 
none  of  which  call  for  the  exercise  of  business  judgment.  In  the  real 
business  world,  the  shaping  of  policies,  not  the  execution  of  routine 
tasks,  is  the  work  of  the  business  administrator.  -Here  the  exercise  of 
sound  business  judgment  is  rewarded  with  adequate  economic  gain; 
of  bad  judgment,  with  a  corresponding  loss.  Experience  in  the  busi- 
ness world  thus  educates  the  business  judgment,  while  that  provided 
by  the  college  course  in  the  technique  of  business  will  at  the  most  give 
skill  and  facility  in  business  routine.  The  latter  training  may  be 
made  a  valuable  aid  to  the  former  but  never  an  effective  substitute. 

(2)  The  second  question  is  more  important  and  even  more  diffi- 
cult to  answer.  The  successful  business  man  of  the  future  must  be 
broadly  educated.  The  complexity  of  the  organization,  the  intricacy 
of  market  conditions  and  the  enormous  size  of  the  representative 
business  establishment  all  unite  to  demand  this  of  the  future  business 
manager.  He  ought  also  to  be  prepared  to  enter  relatively  early  in  life 
upon  his  business  career.  The  course  of  study  outlined  in  a  preceding 
section,  even  omitting  the  technical  training,  can  hardly  be  completed 
during  the  regular  college  course.  To  substitute  technical  training 
for  a  part  of  the  general  education  there  provided  would  seriously 
narrow  that  broad  education  which  is  becoming  more  and  more 
necessary.  To  add  the  technical  training  to  the  commercial  course  as 
a  graduate  year  or  years  would  extend  the  education  for  the  prospec- 
tive businessman  to  a  length  equal  to  that  provided  for  the  best  trained 

(233) 


30 

lawyer  or  physician.  After  his  education  is  completed,  he  still  must 
serve  an  apprenticeship  in  the  ofifice  of  several  years  duration  before 
he  is  fitted  to  take  a  position  of  exacting  responsibility.  In  the  case 
of  the  average  business  man,  it  is  doubtful  if  such  a  prolongation  of 
the  educational  period  is  desirable.  If  the  technical  training  of  the 
college  is  an  indispensable  part  of  the  ideal  preparation  for  business  it 
would  in  his  case  be  better  to  substitute  such  training  for  the  least  es- 
sential subjects  in  the  more  general  courses.  For  the  exceptional  man, 
the  longer  and  more  complete  course  of  study  combining  both  a  broad 
education  and  a  techincal  one  will  propably  prove  more  advantageous 
providing  the  technical  education  be  given  by  competent  instructors 
and  with  adequate  equipment.  If  it  shall  prove  feasible  to  give  tech- 
nical commercial  training  in  the  colleges  so  efficiently  that  students 
enjoying  the  same  are  thereby  enabled  to  appreciably  shorten  their 
apprenticeship  period  such  training  will  be  desirable  for  both  classes. 
To  achieve  such  an  end  is  the  problem  before  the  university  schools  of 
commerce  to-day.  Fortunately  this  experiment  is  being  tried  at 
several  institutions  of  higher  learning  at  the  present  time.  The 
University  of  Wisconsin  has  adopted  the  plan  of  including  the  techni- 
cal training  in  the  regular  college  business  course,  thus  supplementing 
the  rriore  general  courses  and  allowing  it  to  take  the  place  of  an  equiva- 
lent amount  of  college  work;  on  the  other  hand,  the  Tuck  School  of 
Dartmouth  College  has  added  the  technical  training  as  a  graduate 
school  of  commerce,  the  technical  work  thus  following  the  more 
general  courses  of  the  college  period.  While  our  discussion  may  serve 
to  interchange  ideas  and  thus  call  attention  to  the  probable  strength 
and  weakness  of  the  various  methods,  we  may  await  in  confidence  for  a 
final  answer  as  a  result  of  these  several  experiments.  Undoubtedly 
the  result  will  be  quite  largely  conditioned  by  the  skill  and  ability 
with  which  the  experiments  are  conducted. 


Professor  M.  B.  Hammond,  Ph.D. 

State  University  of  Ohio 

We  may  start  with  the  assumption  that  new  courses  are  to  be 
given  in  schools  of  commerce;  that  a  commercial  education  will  be 
distinctly  made  up  of  new  courses  and  not  a  regrouping  of  old  ones 
under  a  new  title  of  commercial  education.  I  agree  with  Professor 
Person  that  a  course  made  up  in  this  way  is  not  worthy  to  be  called  a 
course  in  commercial  education.  I  think  we  all  likewise  agree  with 
him  that  the  incorporation  of  practice  courses  in  our  high  schools  and 
commercial  colleges  will  not  attain  the  end  we  want. 

It  is  true,  and  fortunate  for  our  university  finances,  that  many 
courses  that  have  been  given  in  the  past  may  very  well  be  used  in  the 
courses  in  commerce  because  the  modern  university  has  such  a  breadth 
and  variety  of  instruction,  and  the  aim  of  all  educational  systems  is 

(234) 


31 

common  enough  to  make  many  courses  \'aluable  for  the  business  man 
as  well  as  for  those  who  are  to  enter  professional  careers.  Some  of 
these  courses  are  called  cultural,  and  we  shall  have  to  make  use  of  any 
courses  in  history,  general  economics,  English  and  foreign  languages 
which  may  come  under  this  head.  These  courses,  when  pursued  by 
students  in  the  first  year  of  their  course,  will  require  little,  if  any, 
modification  to  suit  our  needs. 

In  addition  to  these,  there  are  to  be  found  in  all  well  equipped 
universities  certain  courses  which  are  essentially  business  in  character, 
and  we  mav  also  utilize  these  without  change,  in  our  commercial  edu- 
cation, or  at  least  make  them  elective  for  students  in  particular  lines. 
We  have  at  the  Ohio  State  University  in  the  agricultural  college,  for 
example,  courses  on  Live  Stock  and  Commerce,  on  Sources  of  Supply 
and  Market  Classification  of  Wools,  on  Farm  Management,  History  of 
Agriculture  and  Agricultural  Economics;  in  botany  and  horticulture, 
courses  on  Forestry  and  Forest  Economics ;  in  civil  engineering,  courses 
on  Railway  Location;  in  industrial  arts,  courses  on  Tools  and  Ma- 
chines, Shop  Equipment  and  Management;  in  the  department  of 
mining  engineering,  a  course  on  Mine  Operation  and  Accounting,  and 
in  the  law  school  courses  on  Contracts,  Negotiable  Instruments  and 
Private  and  Municipal  Corporations.  Those  of  you  from  other  uni- 
versities can  easily  think  of  similar  courses  in  your  own  institution 
which  could  be  made  available  for  this  purpose.  Then  we  may  by 
use  of  the  elective  svstem,  and  not  following  any  hard  and  fast  lines, 
arrange  it  so  that  a  man  who  expects  to  enter  business  may  be  al- 
lowed to  select  such  courses  as  the  above  and  secure  some  knowledge 
of  the  technical  side  of  business.  There  may  be  some  internal  dilih- 
culties  about  credit  for  such  work,  etc.,  but  these  are  questions  which 
we  need  not  discuss  here.  But  these  courses  in  combination  with  the 
general  cultural  courses  already  mentioned  are  not  sufficient  to  con- 
stitute a  course  in  commercial  education.  Under  the  elective  system 
any  student  could  have  selected  such  courses  as  he  needed  for  a  par- 
ticular business  from  among  these  courses,  but  we  could  not  have  called 
that  a  new  departure.  We  need  in  addition  courses  which  have  distinctly 
in  mind  our  purposes  and  will  have  a  direct  bearing  upon  business  lines. 

We  are  here  confronted  with  the  question,  what  is  the  purpose  to 
be  accomplished,  the  aim  of  the  course?  Bluntly  put  (although  I  am 
aware  that  some  may  take  exception  to  this  way  of  putting  it  and 
accuse  us  of  pandering  to  low  ideals),  the  aim  of  the  course  is  to  teach 
boys  to  make  money.  We  have  avoided  putting  it  in  just  this  way 
but  say  instead  we  want  to  teach  boys  to  promote  industry,  and 
efficiency,  etc.  As  long  as  we  remember  the  old  proverb  that  the 
"shoemaker's  children  go  barefooted, "  we  may  console  ourselves  with 
the  thought  that  to  invite  young  men  to  study  from  college  professors 
the  art  of  money-making  is  not  the  only  paradoxical  situation  which 

(235) 


32 

the  world  offers.  Nor  need  we  consider  that  we  have  lowered  our 
ideals  in  endeavoring  to  give  instruction  along  these  lines  for  the  pur- 
pose indicated.  When  we  consider  that  nine-tenths  of  the  people  give 
three-fourths  of  their  time  to  work,  the  question  of  making  money 
should  not  be  considered  undignified  or  unworthy  of  pursuit.  And 
if  this  is  capable  of  being  taught,  it  should  find  a  place  in  our  higher 
educational  institutions.  No  greater  service  can  be  done  by  a  teacher 
than  to  train  men  who  expect  to  enter  industrial  callings  to  pursue 
wealth  by  legitimate  methods.  In  the  last  twelve  months  we  have  had 
our  attention  called  frequently  to  the  low  standard  of  morality  pre- 
vailing in  high  circles.  One  of  the  best  means  of  meeting  this  difficulty, 
then,  is  to  forewarn  young  men  (for  forewarned  is  forearmed)  against 
those  methods  by  teaching  them  what  are  the  legitimate  methods, 
and  this  knowledge  ought  to  make  it  easier  for  men  who  pursue  fair 
commercial  methods  to  compete  with  those  who  pursue  unfair  tactics. 

If  we  agree,  then,  on  the  purpose  of  these  courses,  the  next  question 
is,  what  work  may  we  offer  that  will  best  enable  our  graduates  to 
attain  this  end?  Should  this  instruction  be  made  technical?  If  we 
accept  the  narrower  meaning  of  the  word  technical,  such  as  Huxley 
has  in  mind  when  he  says,  "Technical  education  is  that  sort  which  is 
specially  adapted  to  the  needs  of  men  whose  business  in  life  it  is  to 
pursue  some  kind  of  handicraft, "  I  think  that  our  answer  will  have  to 
be  largely,  though  not  entirely  in  the  negative.  I  have  sometimes 
had  a  feeling  that  the  courses*  in  commerce  might  more  properly  be 
organized  as  departments  in  the  college  of  engineering  rather  than 
that  of  arts  and  sciences,  since  the  class  of  men  most  likely  to  be  at- 
tracted bv  these  new  courses  would  hitherto  have  been  attracted  to 
the  engineering  rather  than  to  the  arts  college.  But  certainly  courses 
in  banking  and  insurance,  for  example,  would  seem  more,  suited  to 
the  college  of  arts  and  sciences. 

But  I  have  no  doubt  that  in  this  discussion  the  word  technical  was 
intended  to  be  taken  in  its  broader  sense  as  referring  to  that  method 
which  is  especially  appropriate  to  any  business  or  profession.  Having 
this  meaning  of  the  word  in  mind,  I  feel  that  our  answer  should  be  in 
the  affirmative.  If  we  are  to  train  men  for  a  particular  calling,  it  is 
our  business  to  make  the  instruction  as  definite  as  possible  and  to 
furnish  whatever  information  we  can  which  has  a  direct  bearing  upon 
the  particular  occupation.  Viewed  in  this  light,  the  question  is  as  to 
whether  the  courses  we  are  to  arrange  fall  within  the  general  field  of 
economics.  My  own  feeling  is  that  they  do.  Our  study  of  economics 
in  the  past,  so  far  as  it  has  had  a  constructive  purpose  in  view,  has 
been  devoted  to  an  effort  to  influence  public  policy,  mainly  through 
legislation.  With  business  ends  in  view  our  work  must  be  largely 
within  the  field  of  descriptive  economics.  Hitherto  the  purposes 
which  we  have  had  in  view  have  required  emphasis  upon  other  as- 

(236) 


33 

pects  of  economics.  Our  present  task  must  be,  therefore,  to  furnish 
as  detailed  an  analysis  of  the  present  industrial  structure  as  the  materi- 
als we  are  able  to  gather  will  allow.  In  so  doing  we  must  keep  in  con- 
stant touch  with  the  business  classes  and  secure  the  cooperation  of 
business  men  within  and  without  the  class  room.  In  this  connection 
let  us  see  what  the  university  is  able  to  furnish  in  the  way  of  instruc- 
tion along  a  particular  line,  that  of  manufacturing. 

In  treating  this  subject  we  ought  to  be  able  to  give  useful  informa- 
tion as  to  the  causes  which  determine  the  localization  of  industries, 
the  degree  to  which  the  success  of  these  industries  is  dependent  upon 
the  physical  and  social  environment.  A  discussion  of  the  forms  of 
industrial  undertakings  may  well  be  entered  upon  with  a  view  to 
showing  how  far  market  conditions  affect  the  form  of  the  enterprise. 
We  discover  a  tendency  toward  the  corporate  form  of  organization 
and  we  should  be  able  to  point  out  the  nature  of  the  modern  corpora- 
tion, the  conditions  under  which  charters  are  granted,  what  privileges 
they  carry,  what  limitations  are  placed  upon  them.  We  should  dis- 
cuss the  way  in  which  capital  is  provided,  the  kinds  of  stock  issued, 
and  the  variety  of  securities  with  their  relative  advantages.  The 
internal  organization  of  typical  manufacturing  plants  may  be  described 
as  well  as  the  functions  and  relations  of  the  different  departments; 
the  sources  and  methods  of  securing  raw  material ;  of  marketing  goods ; 
the  various  methods  by  which  labor  may  be  secured;  what  is  being 
done  to  promote  efiticiency  of  labor,  and  the  relations  of  employers  to 
labor  organizations.  Most  of  these  subjects  have  been  inadequately 
treated  in  the  general  and  special  works  in  economics,  but  there  is  a 
growing  body  of  literature  dealing  with  these  subjects  appearing  es- 
pecially in  public  reports  and  in  the  various  technical  and  trade 
journals.  This  should  be  supplemented  by  direct  observation  on  the 
part  of  the  student  of  manufacturing  plants  in  his  own  neighborhood 
or  that  of  the  university. 

Such  study  as  I  have  briefly  outlined  would  be  a  technical  presentation 
of  this  subject  and,  properly  worked  out,  ought  to  furnish  as  complete  a 
guide  to  the  man  who  enters  the  administrative  department  of  a  manu- 
facturing plant  as  does  the  course  in  mechanical  or  electrical  engineering 
to  the  man  who  takes  charge  of  certain  of  the  processes  of  manufacture. 

The  technical  side  of  a  commercial  course  in  a  university  may 
perhaps  be  summed  up  in  these  words.  In  any  industry,  be  it  bank- 
ing, insurance,  transportation,  manufacturing  or  comnaerce,  the  stu- 
dent should  be  made  familiar  with  the  functions  of  every  department 
of  a  typical  business  within  the  industry;  should  understand  the  rela- 
tions of  each  department  with  every  other  department  and  to  the 
industry  as  a  whole;  and,  finally,  should  appreciate  the  relations  of 
the  entire  business  unit  to  other  business  units  in  the  same  industry 
and  to  other  industries,  institutions  and  markets. 

(237) 


34 


SECOND    SESSION 


THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  A  COMMERCIAL  COURSE   FOR  HIGH 

SCHOOLS 

Principal  J.  S.  Sheppard 
New  York  High  School  of  Commerce 

According  to  the  report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Education,  there 
were,  in  1894,  fifteen  thousand  students  pursuing  commercial  studies 
in  the  public  high  schools  of  the  United  States.  In  1902,  that  number 
had  increased  to  76,000.  This  remarkable  growth  testifies  eloquently 
to  a  great  present-day  need  in  secondar}'  education,  and  puts  upon 
those  in  authority  the  task  of  making  provision  for  adequate  school 
training  for  business.  European  countries,  almost  without  exception, 
have  done  much  for  commercial  education,  but  until  recently  our 
reliance  has  been  almost  wholly  upon  the  so-called  "business  colleges.  " 
These  institutions  have  been,  and  still  are,'  extremely  useful;  but  the 
demand  is  now  for  a  business  training  which  involves  much  more 
intensive  and  extensive  study  than  is  possible  with  the  highly  special- 
ized curriculum  of  the  business  college,  and  in  the  very  brief  time 
which  such  institutions  demand  and  secure  from  the  pupils.  It  very 
properly  falls  to  the  secondary  school  to  undertake  the  work,  and  it  is 
my  province  in  this  paper  to  point  out  as  best  I  may  just  what  pro- 
gram of  study  seems  best  adapted  to  the  purpose. 

At  the  outset,  it  should  be  made  clear  that  a  highly  trained  intelli- 
gence is  as  essential  in  business  as  in  professional  life.  Trade  has  long 
since  ceased  to  be  simple  barter.  Its  rules  and  processes  can  no 
longer  be  picked  up  by  the  fairly  intelligent  in  a  few  weeks.  In  its 
higher  phases  it  puts  to  the  test  the  keenest  mind,  and  in  its  ordi- 
nary phases  it  affords  ample  opportunity  for  the  exercise  of  more 
than  ordinary  gifts.  The  old-line  commercial  course  of  the  "business 
college"  assumed  that  a  certain  technical  facility  was  practically  all 
that  was  necessary,  and  so  its  studies  were  what  might  be  called  form 
studies.  Of  content,  there  was  little  or  none.  The  modern  commer- 
cial course  must  be  based  upon  the  assumption  of  a  need  for  broad 
and  thorough  training — broader  and  more  thorough  than  can  be 
gained  by  a  pursuit  of  the  familiar  "business  college"  subjects. 
Indeed,  it  is  my  conviction  that,  with  the  exception  of  the  dead  lan- 
guages, there  is  scarcely  a  single  standard  secondarv  subject  which 
cannot  be  very  profitably  included  in  a  commercial  curriculum.  But 
it  should  be  immediately  added  they  must  be  given  the  sort  of  treat- 
ment that  will  yield  the  most  valuable  returns  for  commercial  purposes. 

(238) 


35 

To  illustrate:  History  has  come  to  be  a  favored  secondary  subject, 
the  emphasis  ordinarily  being  upon  political  lines.  In  a  commercial 
course,  the  emphasis  should  be  shifted  to  economic  and  commercial 
phases.  Indeed,  it  is  my  belief  that  this  is  the  best  thing  to  do  in 
even  the  classical  school.  In  modern  history,  for  instance,  such 
topics  as  the  following  would  be  given  due  consideration: 

Security  for  labor  from  state  authority ; 

Nation,  the  unit  of  economic  organization; 

Capital  assumes  large  proportions,  and  enters  colonial  enterprises; 

Recasting  of  commercial  and  industrial  practice ; 

Mercantile  system; 

Rival  commercial  empires  seeking  colonies,  treasure,  shipping. 

Colonial  economic  policy  of  Europe ; 

The  industrial  revolutions; 

Inventions; 

Unstable  industrial  conditions; 

Factory  system; 

Re-adaption  and  reconstruction  of  economic  life ; 

Cosmopolitanism  superseding  nationalism ; 

Study  of  commercial  conditions  in  Europe  at  the  present  time. 

All  of  this  can  be  made  highly  interesting  to  the  secondary  student, 
and  he  can  be  led  through  a  careful  study  of  English  and  continental 
history  along  these  lines — by  no  means  to  the  entire  exclusion  of  other 
lines — to  a  fairly  adequate  understanding  of  present-day  industrialism 
and  commercialism. 

The  immense  importance  of  training  in  English  cannot  be  too 
strongly  emphasized..  In  connection  with  the  usual  work  of  the 
secondary  English  course  there  should  be  continuous  and  progressive 
training,  directed  immediately  toward  commercial  ends.  The  train- 
ing should  include  such  matters  as  letter  writing,  with  drill  in  ordinary 
business  idioms;  preparation  of  telegrams;  writing  and  answering  of 
advertisements;  oral  and  written  reports  on  foreign  commercial  news; 
study  of  biographies  of  successful  men  of  affairs;  preparation  of  a 
careful  discussion  on  some  particular  trade  or  profession;  treatment 
of  topics  of  commercial  and  business  interest  after  the  manner  of  the 
newspaper  editorial.  Nor  should  training  in  effective  oral  expression 
be  neglected.  The  power  of  concise  and  pointed  speech  is  of  much 
moment  to  the  business  man. 

As  to  languages  other  than  English,  it  need  hardly  be  said  that 
the  modern  tongues  only  should  be  given  a  place  in  the  commercial 
curriculum;  for,  in  addition  to  their  disciplinary  and  culture  value, 
they  are  of  immediate  importance  in  large  commercial  centers,  es- 
pecially in  importing  and  exporting  houses. 

In  a  first-class  commercial  school,  the  graduate  of  a  four-year 
course  should  be  expected  to  speak  at  least  one  foreign  language  with 

(239) 


36 

a  fair  degree  of  fluency.  In  other  words,  merely  reading  knowledge 
is  entirely  inadequate  for  the  young  man  who  proposes  to  turn  his 
study  to  actual  use  in  business.  It  is  rather  interesting  to  note  in 
passing  that  from  several  persons  prominent  in  promoting  foreign 
trade,  there  has  recently  come  a  demand  for  the  teaching  of  Japanese! 

In  connection  with  a  study  of  German  or  French  or  Spanish,  there 
are  excellent  opportunities  for  giving  the  pupil  an  intimate  acquain- 
tance with  the  commercial  activities  of  a  foreign  country.  Admirable 
texts  for  the  purpose  have  already  been  published,  and  better  ones 
will  be  put  forth  to  meet  the  growing  demand. 

In  any  school  of  modern  type,  science  will  be  given  a  prominent 
place  in  the  curriculum.  To  me  it  seems  so  important  that  I  would 
prescribe  it  for  at  least  three  years  of  the  High  School  Course.  For 
there  is  not  alone  the  valuable  scientific  training — the  development  of 
powers  of  doing  and  seeing  and  drawing  conclusions  at  first  hand — ■ 
but  there  are  also  the  numerous  incidental  applications  to  commercial 
purposes.  Biology,  for  instance,  introduces  the  pupil  to  the  raw 
materials  of  commerce,  their  distribution,  production,  growth,  and 
relative  vaules.  Chemistry  acquaints  the  pupil  with  many  processes 
bv  which  crude  material  is  transformed  into  the  manufactured  pro- 
duct. Physics  familiarizes  him  with  the  fundamental  transformations 
of  energy  involved  in  all  mechanical  oprations.  Indeed,  the  scientific 
phase  of  its  work  should  be  a  distinguishing  characteristic  of  a  school 
of  commerce;  for  the  modern  industrial  world  in  which  the  business 
man  finds  his  sphere  of  action  touches  science  at  every  turn. 

While  it  may  not  be  desirable  to  give  mathematics  the  prominent 
place  in  a  commercial  school  it  occupies  in  the  ordinary  secondary 
school,  the  subject  should,  by  no  means,  be  slighted.  Algebra  and 
geometry,  with  their  definitely  settled  educational  values,  furnish  a 
sort  of  discipline  which  the  intending  business  man  needs,  and  I  can- 
not at  all  agree  with  the  German  writer  who  contends  that  commercial 
arithmetic  furnishes  the  same  discipline. 

Drawing  has  a  peculiar  value  for  a  commercial  school.  The  refine- 
ment of  taste  which  it  develops  is  alone  sufficient  reason  for  giving  it 
a  place  in  the  curriculum.  Aesthetic  form  is  the  chief  element  of 
worth  in  many  a  commodity  which  finds  wide  sale  in  a  civilized  com- 
munity. In  this  respect,  America  has  much  to  learn  from  her  Euro- 
pean competitors.  It  requires  but  a  casual  study  of  present-day 
advertisements  to  see  what  a  big  field  has  been  opened  up  to  art  in 
that  one  phase  of  business. 

Another  liberal  subject  hitherto  studied  almost  exclusively  in  the 
college  deserves  an  important  place  in  the  commercial  curriculum. 
Economics  lends  itself  readih^  to  advantageous  treatment  in  the 
secondary  school.  The  laws  governing  the  production,  exchange, 
and  distribution  of  wealth  are  within  the  comprehension  of  the  high- 

(240) 


37 

school  senior,  though  he  may  not  any  better  than  his  college  brother 
grasp  all  their  subtleties.  Economics  presents  for  the  pupil's  considera- 
tion data  of  the  most  interesting  character,  and  in  its  practical  appli- 
cations touches  upon  nearly  all  of  the  vital  social  and  political  ques- 
tions of  the  day.  Banking  and  finance,  international  trade,  taxation, 
socialism,  all  fall  within  the  scope  of  the  subject.  And  from  the 
purely  disciplinary  point  of  view,  economics  is  peculiarlv  adapted  to 
advanced  secondary  instruction.  Its  laws  and  principles  are  drawn 
from  facts  which  must  be  carefully  weighed  and  balanced.  It  trains 
the  pupil  to  reach  conclusions  based  upon  considerations  of  a  com- 
plex character.  The  syllogism  of  mathematics  is  not  the  syllogism  of 
every-day  life.  The  man  of  affairs  cannot  proceed  from  absolutely 
fixed  premises  to  definite  and  unvarving  conclusions.  The  value  of 
his  judgment  will  depend  upon  the  ability  to  give  proper  weight  to  a 
variety  of  elements  which  make  up  his  premises.  For  training  in  this 
sort  of  practical  reasoning  a  better  subject  than  economics  could  not 
be  selected.  Closelv  related  to  economics  is  economic  or  commercial 
geography.  The  latter  throws  into  broad  relief  the  division  of  labor — 
perhaps  the  most  marked  feature  of  modern  industrial  conditions,  and 
the  fundamental  basis  of  trade  and  commerce.  In  a  large  community 
the  study  of  commercial  geography  would  naturally  begin  with  a  study 
of  local  industries,  from  which  it  would  broaden  in  a  regular,  order- 
ly way  to  the  large  aspects  of  trade,  domestic  and  foreign. 

Thus  far  we  have  spoken  of  the  typical  secondary  subjects,  common 
in  all  good  high  schools  with  the  exception  of  economics  and  commer- 
cial geography.  A  program  of  studies  in  a  commercial  school  would 
not  in  a  mere  statement  of  the  subjects  differ  very  much  from  the 
program  in  the  ordinary  high  school.  What  is  insisted  upon  is  that 
they  should  be  taught  as  far  as  possible  with  a  commercial  bias. 

There  remains  for  our  consideration  the  group  of  studies  which  are 
directly  and  immediately  commercial.  The  business  activities  of  to- 
day require  from  those  who  w^ould  undertake  them  the  ability  to  write  a 
good  hand,  to  use  figures  with  accuracy  and  dispatch,  to  keep  accounts 
with  intelligence  and  economy  of  time  and  effort.  To  these  equip- 
ments may  be  added  a  familiarity  with  business  forms  and  documents, 
the  laws  governing  their  use,  and  some  knowledge  of  office  economy. 
In  many  instances,  a  knowledge  of  stenography  and  typewriting  is 
essential,  and  in  any  case  it  is  a  valuable  addition  to  the  young  busi- 
ness man's  equipment.  The  commercial  course  should  therefore 
include  business  writing  and  arithmetic,  bookkeeping,  business  cor- 
respondence, and  ofifice  practice,  commercial  law,  and  stenography  and 
typewriting.  Business  writing  and  business  arithmetic  should  come  early 
in  the  course  to  find  their  steady  application  in  the  later  work  of  the 
school.  Bookkeeping  is  by  no  means  an  easy  study  if  properly  taught. 
It  does  not  seem  advisable  to  begin  it  before  the  second  year  of  the 

(241) 


38 

course,  and  provision  should  be  made  for  its  study  in  the  third  and 
fourth  years.  Competent  observers  feel  that  bookkeeping  as  usually 
taught  is  not  made  to  show  its  real  educational  value.  It  is  certainly 
possible  to  make  the  instruction  in  accounts  center  about  certain 
definite  principles.  It  is  by  no  means  necessary  for  the  pupil  merely 
to  follow  a  model  in  the  spirit  of  an  unthinking  imitator.  In  commer- 
cial law,  also,  that  instruction  cannot  be  called  successful  which  aims 
only  at  giving  the  pupil  a  certain  body  of  facts.  The  subject  lends 
itself  to  a  treatment  which  is  in  no  small  degree  scientific.  It  has  been 
the  fashion  in  four -year  commercial  courses  to  postpone  the  study  of 
stenography  to  the  late  years  of  the  course.  This  is  hardly  defensible. 
Pupils  in  the  first  and  second  years  may  with  profit  pursue  the  study 
of  shorthand,  and  the  many  opportunities  for  its  use  in  school  makes 
it  possible  for  them  to  secure  a  practical  training,  insuring  speed  and 
accuracy  at  graduation.  Business  correspondence  and  ofhce  practice 
come  more  properly  after  a  preliminary  training  which  has  made  the 
pupil  familiar  with  many  details  of  business  usage.  It  is  perhaps  not 
unwise  to  place  them  in  the  fourth  year  of  the  program. 

Briefly  stated,  it  should  be  the  aim  of  the  commercial  school  to 
give  the  requisite  technical  equipment  for  business,  but  also  to  go  far 
beyond  that,  and  by  a  wise  application  of  practically  all  the  standard 
secondary  subjects  to  commercial  uses  to  give  a  depth  and  breadth  of 
preparation  that  will  insure  an  all-around  efficiency,  an  easy  adapt- 
ability to  new  and  important  tasks,  and  a  degree  of  initiative.  The 
graduate  of  the  commercial  high  school  will  be  by  no  means  a  finished 
business  man.  But  no  law  school  expects  its  graduates  to  be  finished 
lawyers,  and  no  medical  school  assumes  that  its  graduates  will  be 
finished  physicians.  There  is  much  that  the  successful  business  man 
must  know  which  no  school  can  teach,  just  as  there  is  much  in  the 
practice  of  law  for  which  no  school  ofifers  a  prescription.  And  yet 
the  day  has  gone  by  when  law  is  learned  by  reading  in  a  lawyer's 
office.  The  law  school  has  become  practically  indispensable.  And 
the  day  is  fast  passing,  with  the  remarkable  specialization  of  all 
commercial  and  industrial  activities,  when  a  desirable  all-around 
training  in  business  can  be  secured  in  a  business  house.  The  new 
recruit  is  assigned  to  some  restricted  task,  with  small  outlook  into 
other  fields,  and  unless  he  has  more  than  ordinary  energies  and  initia- 
tive, or  is  possessed  of  influence,  he  is  likely  to  have  little  opportunity 
for  broader  experience. 

The  sort  of  course  here  outlined  not  only  am.ply  meets  the  demands 
of  the  business  world,  assuring  to  those  who  finish  it  a  well-rounded 
equipment  in  a  necessarily  elementary  way  for  affairs,  but  it  does 
more  than  that.  It  opens  the  way  to  the  higher  school  of  commerce, 
the  technical  school  or  college,  and  thus  in  every  way  fills  the  definition 
of  the  modern  secondary  school.     There  is  a  surprisingly  large  number 

(242) 


39 

of  parents  who  desire  for  their  children  the  business  training  which  a 
commercial  school  gives,  and  at  the  same  time  are  anxious  that  ade- 
quate preparation  for  college  shall  go  with  it.  A  well  arranged  com- 
mercial course  may  easily  assure  both  things,  and  in  course  of  time 
the  commercial  courses  of  the  universities  ought  to  attract  goodly 
numbers  of  students  who  have  had  the  preparation  afforded  by  a 
commercial  secondarv  school. 


THE   CORRELATION   OF  HIGH   SCHOOL  AND  UNIVERSITY 
COURSES  IN  COMMERCIAL  STUDIES 

By  Principal  J.  E.  Armstrong,  A.  M. 
Engleivood  High  School,  Chicago 

Correlation  presumes  that  two  things  exist  and  that  between  them 
a  mutual  or  reciprocal  relation  is  to  be  established.  This  I  feel  is 
almost  a  mistake,  for  there  is  scarcely  a  distinct  or  well  defined  notion 
among  high  school  men  of  a  commercial  course.  No  such  doubt 
exists  if  we  speak  of  a  classical  course  or  a  manual  training  course. 
To  the  average  patron  of  the  high  school,  a  commercial  course  means 
a  course  in  bookkeeping.  This  is  doubtless  due  largely  to  the  com- 
mercialism of  the  so-called  business  college.  If  we  confine  our  dis- 
cussion to  this  conception  of  commercial  courses,  there  will  certainly 
be  nothing  to  correlate.  Children  from  the  sixth  and  seventh  grades 
of  our  public  schools  are  learning  to  record  imaginary  business  trans- 
actions or  to  write  rapidly  and  spell  phonetically  in  order  to  obtain  a 
position  in  a  business  house.  Whether  this  in  any  way  prepares  them 
to  engage  in  business  or  to  fill  a  place  of  responsibility  and  trust  or 
not,  is  another  matter.  Parents  are  willing  to  toil  and  sacrifice  to 
give  their  children  this  brief  automatic  training  because  of  the  slight 
advantage  it  will  give.  I  suspect  part  of  it  is  due  to  the  esteem  they 
hold  for  the  name,  "Business  Education."  Business  men  are  partly 
at  fault  for  this  erroneous  conception  of  business  education,  for,  until 
very  recently,  many  of  them  gave  preference  to  the  boy  of  twelve 
with  a  three  months'  business  college  course,  because  it  was  supposed 
he  would  be  more  teachable  than  the  high  school  boy,  and  would  do 
his  task  without  question  about  the  method.  The  boy  with  more  of  a 
mind  of  his  own  was  thought  to  be  too  independent.  In  other  words, 
the  one  who  could  become  a  machine  to  grind  out  dollars  was  what 
they  desired. 

Thanks  to  the  cooperation  of  an  increasing  number  of  secondary 
schools  and  the  operation  of  the  child  labor  laws  there  is  now  a  greater 
demand  for  the  high  school  graduate.  In  fact  many  of  the  large 
business  houses  and  corporations  will  not  employ  any  boy  who  is  not 
a  high  school  graduate. 

(243) 


40 

Possibly  the  lack  of  proper  ideals  among  educators  themselves, 
and  their  natural  conservatism  are  at  fault.  As  President  James  once 
pointed  out,  classical  school  men  bitterly  opposed  the  introduction  of 
science  into  the  high  schools.  Later,  classical  and  science  men  united 
to  oppose  manual  training;  and  now  possibly  all  three  are  united 
against  their  supposed  common  enemy,  commercial  education.  If 
the  essence  of  education  is  found  only  in  the  sacred  walks  of  our 
fathers,  perhaps  this  is  a  holy  warfare ;  but  to  my  way  of  thinking  it  is 
not  true.  Who  has  not  met  a  liberal  minded,  refined  man  or  woman 
whose  soul  seemed  touched  with  intellectual  fire,  who  recognized  the 
broad  relations  of  humanity,  who  reasoned  logically  and  yet  had  but 
little  school  learning?  Have  we  not  placed  too  much  emphasis 
upon  certain  training  as  essential  to  culture?  Our  whole  system  of 
education  seems  to  assume  that  all  minds  are  so  nearlv  alike  that  the 
same  intellectual  diet  will  nourish  all;  and  then  we  excuse  ourselves 
for  starving  some  and  overfeeding  others  by  blaming  heredity  and 
environment.  I  once  transplanted  a  little  flowering  plant  from  a  cold 
mountain  top  to  a  sunny  spot  in  a  fertile  garden.  On  its  native  rocks, 
ice-bound  the  greater  part  of  the  year,  it  had  lived  a  tiny  dwarf.  In 
its  new  home,  it  grew  to  great  size,  bloomed  profusely,  and  perished 
in  one  short  season.  Many  a  palm  that  would  have  become  a  stately 
tree  in  its  native  clime,  lives  a  miserable,  sickly  caricature  in  a  dark- 
ened parlor.  We  seem  to  say  that  if  the  human  plant  cannot  flourish 
on  the  diet  we  offer,  let  it  die  rather  than  to  offend  our  gods  of  learning. 

It  is  stated  on  good  authority,  that  the  hosts  of  youths  who  go 
through  our  schools  will  soon  forget  their  Latin  arid  in  ten  years  from 
the  time  they  leave  school  they  will  not  be  able  to  read  a  dozen  lines 
of  Cicero ;  nor  will  they  be  able  to  tell  why  the  three  angles  of  a  triangle 
are  equal  to  two  right  angles.  Claim  what  we  may  for  the  power  they 
have  gained,  and  the  ability  to  think  logically,  yet  there  is  great  loss, 
a  waste  of  energy  that  possibly  could  have  been  saved.  I  dare  to  say 
we  send  out  some  conspicuous  failures,  judged  by  our  ordinary 
standards,  who  eventually  find  their  way  to  places  of  great  trust, 
responsibility,  and  honor,  and  are  recognized  as  people  of  culture.  It 
must  be  that  there  are  other  means  of  culture  that  lie  outside  the 
school  curriculum. 

A  vast  majoritv  of  the  pupils  who  go  through  our  schools  must 
eventually  find  a  place  in  the  business  world.  Only  one  here  and 
there  can  become  a  professional  man.  We  need  not  dwell  upon  the 
common  need  of  the  rudiments  of  an  education  as  provided  in  our 
splendid  system  of  public  schools;  but  after  the  child  reaches  the  age 
of  adolescence,  we  recognize  the  need  of  studies  that  call  forth  the 
exercise  of  the  powers  of  the  soul.  Is  it  not  reasonable  to  suppose 
that  those  activities  that  are  to  occupy  the  waking  hours  of  the 
masses  of  the  people  engaged  in  a  keen  struggle  for  existence  or  su- 

(244) 


41 

premacy  will  furnish  a  stimulus  to  mental  activity?  Self -activity, 
which  we  failed  to  awaken  while  in  school,  was  the  mainspring  to 
success  and  culture.  It  lay  coiled,  full  of  energy,  awaiting  the  master 
hand  that  could  set  it  free.  We  give  the  would-be  doctor  all  that 
science  can  bring  to  his  assistance.  We  give  the  embryo  lawyer  all 
that  history,  government,  and  logic  can  contribute  to  his  assistance. 
Why  not  give  the  future  business  man  what  we  can  of  knowledge  and 
discipline  along  the  line  of,  and  in,  his  chosen  work?  The  laws  of 
trade  are  more  important  to  him  than  the  laws  of  Solon  or  the  logic 
of  Plato.  There  are  laws  governing  the  production  of  corn  and  pork 
as  certain  as  the  laws  of  falling  bodies.  We  have  relied  too  long  upon 
the  chances  for  a  man  to  rnaster  both  scholastic  and  business  laws. 
Life  for  the  majority  of  men  is  too  short.  Splendid  mental  discipline 
can  be  found  in  common  things  that  lie  close  to  the  heart  of  the  daily 
toiler.  We  have  allowed  to  lie  neglected  a  vast  fertile  field.  It  is 
filled  with  plants  that  bear  precious  grains,  luscious  fruits,  as  well  as 
noxious  weeds.  In  adjoining  fields,  we  have  set  the  useful  plants  in 
rows,  arranging  those  of  a  kind  together  and  removed  the  weeds.  A 
little  work  bestowed  upon  the  other  field  would  greatlv  increase  our 
harvest. 

Let  no  one  think  that  I  am  opposed  to  the  studv  of  Latin.  Two- 
thirds  of  my  pupils  take  Latin  with  my  approval.  It  is,  to  many,  a 
splendid  highway  to  the  culture  of  the  past.  I  am  only  thinking  of 
the  multitudes  who  cannot  travel  that  road  and  who  will,  and  do,  leave 
school  rather  than  try  it.  The  report  of  the  Board  of  Education  of 
Chicago  for  last  vear  shows  the  membership  bv  grades  in  round  num- 
bers as  follows: 
"1st  Grade,  43,000  7th  Grade,  14,000 

2nd  Grade,  36,000  8th  Grade,  1 1 ,000 

3rd  Grade,  34.000  9th  Grade,  or  1st  year  in  high  school,  4,600 

4th  Grade,  28,000  10th  Grade,     2,500 

5th  Grade,  27,000  1 1th  Grade,     1,600 

6th  Grade,  20,000  12th  Grade,     1,100" 

It  will  be  seen  from  this  that  there  is  a  constant  and  deplorable 
dropping  off  from  the  first  grade  on.  In  the  report  for  1900-01,  I 
note  the  following: 

"  In  1889,  25,788  children  entered  the  first  grade. "     The  following 
per  cents  show  the  relative  numbers  of  these  that  returned  each  year : 
"2nd  year,  90%  6th  year,  48%  10th  year,  9% 

3rd  year,  80%  7th  year,  37%  11th  year,  6% 

4th  year,  65%  8th  year,  28%o  12th  year,  5%," 

5th  year,  61<%  9th  year,  15% 

The  crowded  condition  of  the  so-called  business  colleges  as  well  as 
that  of  our  public  manual  training  schools  show  a  desire  of  a  large  num- 
ber of  people  to  obtain  a  different  training  from  that  which  we  offer 

(245) 


42 

in  the  ordinary  high  school.  Comparing  the  work  done  in  the  manual 
training  schools  and  some  of  the  recently  established  commercial 
schools  with  that  of  the  ordinary  high  school  we  find  a  curriculum 
requiring  as  close  application  and  as  logical  a  sequence  of  study.  At 
the  same  time  that  this  new  growth  was  taking  place  in  commercial 
schools,  our  other  high  schools  have  grown  faster  than  we  could  pro- 
vide for  them;  for,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  95  per  cent  of  the  pupils 
who  entered  the  schools  have  left  before  graduation,  our  high  schools 
have  increased  seventy-five  per  cent.  (Report  of  the  Superintendent 
of  Schools,  Chicago,  1901.) 

While  it  is  impossible  to  gather  data  that  will  show  whv  the  ninety- 
five  per  cent  left  the  schools,  it  is  not  difficult  to  point  out  some  of  the 
causes  upon  which  we  can  all  agree.  It  is  certainly  a  noble  sentiment 
that  places  education  above  influence,  power  or  wealth ;  but  food,  cloth- 
ing, fuel  and  shelter  are  stern  necessities.  The  struggle  for  mere  existence 
is  the  all-important  question  for  the  majority  of  the  common  people. 
Is  it  a  base,  unworthy  desire,  on  the  part  of  school  men,  to  teach 
struggling  humanity  how  to  make  existence  more  tolerable.  It  was 
thought  once  to  be  a  great  achievement  when  two  blades  of  grass  were 
made  to  grow  where  but  one  grew  before.  We  now  find  that  two 
may  be  made  to  grow  where  none  grew  before.  Not  all  povert}^  is  due 
to  "trusts,"  corporations  or  alcohol.  A  considerable  part  is  due  to 
ignorance  of  the  most  fundamental  laws  of  economic  and  domestic 
science.  Little  girls  in  our  schools  taught  to  cook  scientifically,  to 
buy  the  most  nourishing  food,  and  to  cut  and  sew  their  own  clothing 
are  saving  many  families  from  poverty.  To  my  mind,  there  is  no 
doubt  that  a  considerable  part  of  that  ninety-five  per  cent  entered  the 
commercial  world  prematurely  of  stern  necessity.  Another  portion 
lost  interest  long  before  they  left  school  because  the  home  and  the 
school  were  too  far  apart — that  is,  out  of  harmony.  Parents  are 
absorbed  in  making  a  living,  and  see  no  help  ahead  from  the  schools; 
and  the  children  receiving  no  encouragement  at  home,  become  im- 
bued with  the  feeling  that  school  will  not  help  them  do  the  work  that 
beckons  just  ahead.     The  schools  seem  to  them  entirely  impractical. 

Can  we  not  find  a  new  field  of  interest  for  them  that  will  furnish 
sufficient  discipline,  and  lie  so  close  to  the  every-da}"  things  of  life  that 
they  shall  continue  to  grow  in  it?  Bookkeeping  and  stenography 
cannot  claim  this  place.  The  great  majority  of  those  engaged  in  com- 
mercial life  neither  keep  books  nor  answer  letters.  These  branches  are 
as  foreign  to  their  occupation  as  Latin  and  possess  far  less  disciplinary 
power  for  those  who  can  grasp  it.  The  backbone  of  all  commercial 
courses  should  be  Commercial  Geography.  It  is  as  yet  ill  defined  and 
scatters  over  creation  about  as  natural  history  did  in  the  early  days 
of  science  teaching.  It  must  be  differentiated  into  several  branches 
before  it  can  take  high  rank  in  the  curriculum.     It  is  a  subject  that 

(246) 


43 

cannot  fail  to  interest  all  who  have  any  contact  with  business  life. 
It  gathers  its  data  from  every  field  of  practical  knowledge.  It  recog- 
nizes the  part  played  by  science  and  invention.  It  takes  account  of 
the  influence  of  religion  and  established  social  customs  in  the  world's 
common  work.  Possibly  it  should  receive  a  new  name,  for  the  average 
parent  thinks  of  it  as  geography  and  not  commerce.  Geographical 
Commerce  would  be  an  improvement  in  some  respects.  However, 
the  name  will  take  care  of  itself  if  the  subject  matter  is  living  and 
growing  as  I  believe  it  to  be.  Commercial  geography  is  yet  in  the 
condition  of  the  Liberal  Arts  Buildings  at  our  World's  Fairs.  They 
contain  too  much  under  one  roof  to  receive  the  careful  attention  they 
deserve.  We  shall  have  to  divide  the  subjects  into  many  divisions, 
such  as  the  production  of  raw  materials,  influence  of  soil  and  climate, 
distribution,  manufactures,  labor  saving  machinery,  mediums  of  ex- 
change, banking,  influence  of  railroads  and  waterways,  the  influence 
of  religion  and  social  customs  on  the  production  and  exchange  of 
products,  etc. 

All  this  will  require  a  study  of  the  leading  modern  languages,  the 
whole  field  of  science,  and  history — especially  industrial  history — 
political  economy  and  plain  English.  W^e  are  making  some  progress 
along  these  lines  in  our  city  schools,  but  only  a  beginning.  Most  of 
the  pupils  wish  to  study  bookkeeping  and  stenography  the  first  year 
so  as  to  take  a  position  the  next  year.  We  insist  on  all  pupils  taking 
English  one  year.  A  year  of  foreign  language  and  of  mathematics 
with  bookkeeping  seems  not  unreasonable;  so  the  stenography  waits 
till  the  second  year.  Commercial  geography  is  offered  in  the  third  year 
and  political  economy  and  commercial  law  in  the  fourth.  In  this  way 
we  hope  to  keep  them  at  work  the  same  length  of  time  that  we  do  others ; 
but  the  allurements  of  a  great  commercial  city  are  still  against  us. 

Similar  courses  are  being  offered  in  the  progressive  high  schools  all 
over  the  country,  and  the  time  will  soon  come  when  the  business  world 
will  more  fully  recognize  their  merits.  This  will  also  create  more  of  a 
demand  for  the  splendid  courses  offered  here  at  the  University  of 
Illinois.  The  commercial  or  business  world  has  long  looked  upon  the 
universities  and  all  teachers  as  the  embodiment  of  the  impractical. 
Our  engineering  and  agricultural  colleges  have  done  much  to  redeem 
the  rest  of  us  from  this  bad  reputation.  Business  men  are  beginning 
to  recognize  the  practical  value  of  the  courses  offered  here  in  commer- 
cial lines.  Let  the  high  schools  see  to  it  that  they  do  their  part  in 
advancing  the  interests  of  the  same  good  cause. 


DISCUSSION 

Principal  F.  D.  Thompson 
Galeshurg  High  School 
The   paper  states  clearly   the  lines  of  work  for  the   commercial 
course  in  a  high  school. 

(247) 


44 

Experience  in  our  high  school  has  shown  that  the  introduction  of 
commercial  studies  has  found  favor  with  a  large  number  of  the  patrons 
of  the  school. 

Our  work  in  English,  history,  arithmetic  and  civil  government  has 
been  taken  in  the  classes  when  these  subjects  were  already  taught. 
This  has  made  it  possible  for  us  to  carry  on  a  commercial  course 
simply  by  the  introduction  of  a  few  special  studies  and  having  our 
other  work  presented  in  as  practical  a  way  as  possible. 

The  plan  of  having  these  studies  in  the  school  alongside  of  the 
other  work  of  the  school  has  been  appreciated  by  our  pupils  and  has 
drawn  many  into  the  school.  Many  who  have  entered  school  for  the 
sole  purpose  of  taking  the  commercial  lines  of  work  have  been  brought 
to  see  the  value  of  other  lines  of  study  and  have  taken  them  up. 
Those  who  have  finished  the  commercial  course  alone  have  fitted 
themselves  for  places  in  the  business  world  and  have  made  themselves 
effective  laborers  in  their  chosen  field. 


Professor  M.  H.  Robinson 

The  correlation  of  the  commercial  education  offered  by  the  uni- 
versity with  that  provided  by  the  high  schools  involves  the  considera- 
tion of  this  important  question,  "What  subjects  in  preparation  for  a 
business  career  and  what  kind  of  instruction  are  adapted  to  the  intel- 
lectual development  of  the  average  pupil  of  high  school  age?"  The 
character  of  the  instruction  and  the  nature  of  the  subjects  presented 
in  the  university  naturally  differ  from  those  adapted  to  the  high  school 
course.  Again,  it  is  doubtless  true  that  the  character  of  the  education 
and  the  nature  of  the  subjects  ought  to  be  somewhat  different  during 
the  high  school  period  for  the  pupils  whose  school  days  end  with  the 
completion  of  the  high  school  course  and  for  those  who  are  preparing 
for  college.  This  difference  has  led  to  the  establishment  of  distinct 
and  separate  high  schools  in  certain  cities  for  those  who  are  preparing 
for  the  university.  Still  even  in  such  cases  the  courses  provided  in 
the  two  classes  of  schools  are  more  alike  than  different.  The  applica- 
tion of  sound  educational  philosophy  to  the  problem  before  us  will 
probably  necessitate  agreement  on  the  two  following  propositions: 
first,  the  larger  part  of  the  pupil's  time  in  school  up  to  the  beginning  of 
the  college  course  is  needed  for  the  mastery  of  the  intellectual  tools 
which  an  educated  man  is  constantly  using, — the  ability  to  read  and 
understand  his  own  and  one  or  more  foreign  languages;  a  knowledge 
of  the  science  of  numbers  and  skill  in  their  use ;  an  elementary  view  of 
the  natural  sciences;  second,  there  are  certain  subjects  essential  to  a 
commercial  education  which  are' fitted  by  their  nature  to  be  a  part  of 
the  high  school  curriculum.  Such  are  commercial  arithmetic,  the 
nature   of   accounts   and   the   elements   of  bookkeeping,    commercial 

(248) 


45 

geography  and  economic  history.  Each  of  these  is  based  upon  or  is 
an  extension  of  studies  pursued  during  the  high  school  course,  and  thus 
form  the  natural  link  between  the  high  school  and  the  college  for  those 
pupils  who  are  shaping  their  high  school  and  college  courses  in  prepar- 
ation for  a  business  career. 


Dr.  E.  D.  Durand 

What  the  high  schools  can  give  which  will  count  for  business  will, 
of  course,  fit  only  for  the  lower  ranks.  This  will  serve  to  introduce 
the  man  into  business,  and  then  if  he  has  the  ability  and  initiative  he 
can.  of  course,  rise.  But  to  attempt  to  give  a  man  in  the  high  school 
or  in  the  college  a  knowledge  of  the  way  in  which  business  is  carried 
on,  and  especially  of  the  conditions  of  any  particular  business  which 
he  may  want  to  enter,  seem  very  nearly,  if  not  quite,  impracticable. 
We  can  get  it  more  in  the  college,  perhaps,  than  in  the  high  school, 
in  the  way  of  teaching  the  methods  of  organization  and  administration, 
the  principles  of  business,  the  systems  of  banking  and  money,  the 
organization  of  the  different  interests  of  a  business  and  their  relation 
to  one  another.  All  these  will  help  the  pupil.  But  so  far  as  helping 
him  to  engage  in  manufacturing  or  any  kind  of  actual  business,  we 
cannot  go  very  far. 

Now,  if  you  teach  a  pupil  the  places  and  ways  in  which  certain 
products  are  produced,  the  manner  of  exportation,  and  all  that,  what, 
after  all,  have  you  done  to  prepare  him  to  go  into  the  practical  busi- 
ness of  manufacturing  ?  You  cannot  carry  the  instruction  far  enough 
to  enable  him  to  manage  a  particular  business.  There  are  a  few 
businesses,  of  course,  like  the  country  cross-roads  store,  and  a  few 
others  which  are  anomalous,  and  take  no  great  amount  of  knowledge 
except  of  a  general  character.  But  for  the  most  part,  the  business  of 
today  is  extremely  concrete,  so  that  it  does  not  seem  to  me  that 
general  instruction  in  commercial  geography,  for  instance,  will  be  of 
anv  particular  service  for  that  purpose.  Not  for  a  moment  would  I 
decry  commercial  geography  as  a  matter  of  science ;  every  pupil  ought 
to  know  about  the  methods  by  which  goods  are  produced,  etc.;  but 
for  practical  value  to  the  man  of  business,  there  is  considerable  danger 
of  overestimatinsr  it. 


SUPERINTENDEXT  E.   G.   COOLEY 

Chicago 

I  am  inclined  to  believe  that  the  trouble  with  the  university  man 
is  the  feeling  on  the  part  of  the  people  of  the  high  schools  that  they 
must  in  some  way  follow  the  lead  of  the  universities,  which  are  the 
most  conservative  part  of  the  school  svstem  of  the  country.     If  we 

(249) 


46 

would  do  less  in  this  way  and  let  the  universities  take  care  of  them- 
selves, we  would  have  better  commercial  high  schools. 

The  same  proposition  is  here  in  the  commercial  line  that  we  have 
in  other  studies  in  the  high  school,  in  science,  history,  Latin,  etc.,  and 
that  is  a  domination  coming  from  the  univeristies  in  which  they 
inject  university  work  into  the  high  schools  and  expect  the  high 
school  to  do  the  work  that  is  done  by  people  in  the  university.  What 
I  mean  is,  that  a  person  who  teaches  in  a  high  school  is  expected  to 
have  attended  a  college  or  university.  When  he  goes  into  the  high 
school,  he  tries  to  do  the  same  kind  of  work  that  he  did  in  the  uni- 
versity.    This  is  one  of  the  greatest  troubles  in  the  high  schools. 

There  is,  as  you  know,  a  very  small  number  of  pupils  that  ever  go 
to  the  university.  Hence,  it  is  not  fair  to  let  the  universities  dominate 
the  work  of  the  high  schools.  Mr.  Armstrong  called  attention  to  the 
small  number  who  ever  get  into  the  high  school.  A  still  smaller 
number  ever  reach  the  university. 

Another  thing:  we  are  dominated  by  the  notion  that  thoroughness 
is  absolutely  out  of  any  reasonable  relation  with  the  nature  of  the 
child.  Now  those  who  study  the  child  will  see  that  there  is  only  a 
certain  degree  of  thoroughness  to  be  obtained.  It  is  not  reasonable 
to  hold  them  back  until  they  reach  a  certain  standard ;  if  you  do  you 
will  waste  the  development,  and  it  is  not  reasonable  to  hold  them  back 
to  reach  some  ideal.  They  are  growing  and  developing  in  their 
thinking  and  in  their  bodies.  We  see  a  little  child  in  the  primary 
room  and  we  do  not  try  to  bring  him  down  to  the  precise  movements 
of  the  adult.  We  high  school  people,  with  a  view  to  doing  something 
for  the  young  men  and  women  who  are  going  into  business,  should 
not  be  made  mere  instruments  to  explain  analyses  and  all  that,  and 
keep  them  down.  Of  course  we  will  teach  them  English,  mathe- 
matics, history,  and  so  on,  but  we  should  give  them  some  broader 
ideas.  They  say  it  cannot  be  done  because  we  cannot  cover  all  lines. 
We  cannot  cover  all  lines  even  in  technical  high  schools.  We  cannot 
keep  the  boys  in  order  to  graduate  them  in  the  Chicago  high  schools 
because  they  are  so  greatly  in  demand  by  the  business  men.  They 
realize  these  boys  have  learned  some  things  and  thev  want  them  in 
their  establishments.  Now,  we  are  finding  the  same  thing  in  the  com- 
mercial work;  we  cannot  keep  the  boys  through  the  four  years. 


Professor  G.  M.  Fisk 
University  of  Illinois 

The  criticism  of  Superintendent  Cooley  regarding  the  conservatism 
of  the  university,  while  applicable  to  American  colleges  and  universi- 
ties in  part,  hardly  applies  to  our  higher  institutions  of  learning  at  the 
present  time;  at  least  it   does  not  apply  to  our  state  universities. 

(250) 


47 

Present  university  entrance  requirements  offer  great  latitude  in  the 
selection  of  preparatory  studies.  What  the  universities  want  are 
young  men  and  young  women  equipped  to  do  university  work.  Of 
course,  there  must  be  some  general  standards  of  entrance,  but  the 
particular  subjects  taught  in  high  schools  are  of  less  concern  to 
university  authorities  than  the  character  of  the  preparation. 
Most  of  the  universities  are  glad  to  give  high  school  students  credit 
for  all  advanced  work  done  in  the  secondary  school,  provided  its 
quality  justifies  it.  This  applies  not  only  to  language  or  mathematics, 
but  to  commercial  geography  or  any  other  subject.  More  specifically 
as  to  business  education  it  is  not  for  the  universities  to  say  what  com- 
mercial branches  should  be  taught  in  the  secondary  schools.  These 
must  be  selected  by  the  latter  in  such  a  w'ay  as  to  meet  local  require- 
ments. The  universities  simply  say,  "We  will  accept  and  give  credit 
for  all  cominercial  branches  taught  in  the  universities  and  duplicated 
in  the  high  schools.  " 

SuPERiXTEXDEXT  Clendenex  :  How  many  students  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  Illinois  are  taking  the  business  course? 

Professor  Fisk:  I  presume  there  are  at  least  one  hundred 
students  in  the  University  who  are  taking  substantially  all  the  subjects 
in  one  of  the  business  courses.  On  the  other  hand,  there  are  approxi- 
mately a  thousand  students  who  are  taking  one  or  more  subjects  in 
these  courses. 


Superintexdext  T.  C.  Clexdexex 
Cairo,  Illinois 

I  have  come  to  the  conclusion,  based  on  the  observation  of  many 
years,  that  less  than  one-half  per  cent,  of  the  whole  number  who  enter 
high  school  ever  enter  the  university.  I  believe,  as  Mr.  Hewett  says, 
that  we  must  face  our  courses  in  the  high  school  toward  the  school  life. 
The  number  of  these  boys  and  girls  who  are  going  into  a  university  is 
too  small  to  make  us  face  our  courses  toward  the  university.  We 
must  face  our  courses  toward  the  people.  Any  correlation,  from  the 
standpoint  of  superintendents,  between  the  work  of  elementary  schools 
and  the  work  of  the  high  schools  has  no  influence  whatever  with  us. 
We  want  our  boys  and  girls  to  come  to  the  university  feeling  that  it 
has  a  business  course  to  offer  and  that  they  want  to  take  it.  I  have  a 
boy  taking  this  course  and  I  think  the  university  will  give  him  what 
he  wants.  He  does  this  without  any  shaping  of  his  high  school 
course  towards  the  university.  The  high  school  course,  when  it  is  in 
proper  working  order,  will  not  face  towards  the  University  of  Illinois 
or  of  Chicago  or  any  other,  but  will  face  towards  the  lives  of  the  people 
after  they  leave  the  high  school. 


(251) 


48 

Professor  D.  E.  Burchell 
University  of  Wisconsin- 
One  point  has  come  into  my  mind  which  I  would  like  to  mention. 
What  will  be  the  result  if  the  high  schools  emphasize  today  the  idea 
that  they  are  simply  preparing  young  inen  to  leave  the  high  school  for 
the  business  world?  Will  it  not  have  a  tendency  to  lead  young  men 
to  think  that  the  high  school  does  all  that  it  necessary  to  get  them 
into  business,  and  so  they  see  no  advantage  in  going  further? 

On  the  other  side,  the  university  people  should  realize  that  these 
are  the  men  they  want,  and  should  try  to  get  hold  of  them.  They 
should  say  to  the  young  men,  "You  are  going  into  business;  cannot 
you  make  same  way  to  enter  the  university  and  add  to  what  you  al- 
ready have  a  university  education  and  be  a  better  man  therefor  and 
get  farther  up  with  more  rapid  strides  than  you  can  by  leaving  the 
high  school  now  and  turning  into  business?" 


Professor  M.  B.  Hammond 
Ohio  State  University 

What  are  the  universities  to  do  with  the  men  who  have  no  idea 
when  they  begin  these  courses  that  they  will  go  on?  Fifty  per  cent, 
have  no  idea  of  taking  a  college  course  at  first,  but  after  taking  the 
course  in  high  school  they  decide  that  they  would  like  to  go  on  in  the 
university,  but  are  not  able  to  meet  the  university  requirements  with- 
out going  back  one  or  two  years  in  the  high  school  course,  unless  the 
university  will  accept  the  work  offered.  Should  the  university  accept 
commercial  subjects  and  put  them  on  the  elective  list?  The  univer- 
sity ought  to  settle  that  question. 


Principal  J.  E.  Armstrong 
Chicago 

There  are  several  points  here.  We  cannot  think  of  such  a  thing  as 
planning  any  course  with  the  hope  that  it  is  going  to  last  ten  or  twelve 
years.  We  must  also  leave  out  of  consideration  that  we  are  preparing 
for  college.  We  have  the  ninety-five  per  cent,  to  deal  with  before  we 
come  to  the  college  question  at  all.  Of  course  the  better  the  course, 
the  better  for  those  who  are  going  to  college.  Now  we  talk  about  a 
commercial  school  preparing  a  man  to  go  into  the  iron  business,  for 
instance;  but  here  we  are  referring  to  the  trade  schools.  When  we 
use  the  word  business  we  are  still  referring  to  commerce  and  not  to 
any  particular  line  of  manufacturing.  The  time  is  coming  when  we 
shall  have  these  trade  schools.  We  are  becoming  more  and  more  a 
manufacturing  nation  and  we  shall  have  to  give  more  attention  to 
these  things.     We  need  also  to  give  attention  to  commerce,  transpor- 

(252) 


49 

tation,  etc..  and  that  is  the  subject  we  are  considering  when  we  are 
talking  about  commercial  schools.  The  University  of  Illinois  gives 
credit  for  anything  that  has  been  well  done  in  any  high  school  and  will 
examine  the  school.  I  ha\-e  no  sympathy  with  the  idea  that  we  should 
confine  ourselves  to  elementary  things ;  that  we  should  merelv  do  more 
thoroughly  the    elementary  things. 

The  high  school  teachers  were  complaining  because  the  child  came 
to  them  and  could  not  spell,  and  that  simph'  called  attention  to  the 
fact  that  the  high  schools  were  at  fault.  The  ninety-five  per  cent,  are 
the  ones  that  must  be  considered,  and  we  must  consider  the  fact  that 
present  lines  do  not  meet  the  needs  of  these  and  that  there  are  other 
lines  of  training  that  would.  So  any  effort  to  reach  this  ninety-five 
per  cent,  is  bound  to  remain  in  the  secondarv  schools  and  we  are  going 
have  the  courses  to  do  it. 


^  Mr.  G.  W.  Brown 

Brown's  Business  Colleges 

I  think  it  is  true  that  the  universities  are  conservative, 
and  I  do  not  see  how  they  can  be  otherwise.  I  do  not 
believe  that  the  high  schools  are  to  adopt  any  course  of  studv  until 
they  have  the  strong  support  of  the  people.  Let  the  universities 
make  the  course  that  has  been  outlined  here  today.  Let  them  make 
that  course  general  and  show  that  there  is  a  point  to  it,  that  those 
that  follow  that  course  are  led  to  important  positions,  and  my  judg- 
ment is  that  it  will  not  lack  persons  to  take  it.  It  is  not  feasible  to 
arrange  a  high  school  so  as  to  make  it  preparatory. 


(2^.3) 


50 


THIRD    SESSION 

HOW  SHALL  WE  TEACH  BUSINESS  PRACTICE? 

By  Professor  D.  E.  Burchell 

University  of  Wisconsin 

The  term  business  practice  has  several  meanings  according  to  the 
connection  in  which  it  is  used.  In  the  business  colleges  for  the  past 
fifty  years  it  has  applied  to  that  department  known  as  the  offices. 
The  work  in  the  offices  was  pursued  by  the  student  at  the  end  of  the 
course,  and  it  was  here  that  he  was  taught  to  put  in  practice  the 
theoretical  work  which  had  preceded.  These  offices  represent  whole- 
sale houses,  commission  houses,  insurance  and  real  estate  offices, 
banks,  etc.  The  idea  being  to  give  the  student  practice  in  office 
routine  and  so  far  as  possible  accustom  him  to  the  atmosphere  and 
habits  of  business  practice.  This  practice  has  not  extended  much 
outside  of  bookkeeping  processes.  In  the  stenographic  department 
similar  practice  has  been  given  in  correspondence,  quite  as  good  as 
that  in  the  offices,  although  not  given  the  name  of  business  practice. 
In  the  commercial  department  of  high  schools  the  term  business 
practice  has  come  to  mean  the  same  as  in  the  business  colleges  and  to 
a  large  extent  the  same  meaning  applies  to  the  courses  in  business 
practice  being  introduced  into  the  colleges  and  universities.  How- 
ever, to  the  business  man,  the  term  business  practice  has  not  such  a 
limited  meaning,  but  extends  rather  to  all  phases  of  daily  business 
activity.     I  shall  discuss  this  broader  meaning  later. 

The  business  colleges  for  more  than  fifty  years  have  been  training 
young  men  and  women  for  clerical  positions,  and  they,  too,  have  been 
the  principal  means  of  instructing  in  stenography  and  typewriting. 
Hundreds  and  sometimes  thousands  have  been  sent  out  from  the 
business  colleges  annually  to  take  positions  in  the  offices  of  business 
houses.  While  many  have  never  risen  above  mere  clerkships,  others 
have  used  this  small  beginning  as  a  stepping-stone  to  something  better. 
Many  of  the  most  prominent  men  in  the  country  date  their  start  in 
life  to  the  day  they  left  the  business  college.  A  couple  of  years  ago  a 
sign  on  125th  Street,  New  York,  read  something  like  this, — "Roose- 
velt knows  a  good  thing,  his  private  secretary,  Mr.  Cortelyou  learned 
stenography  in  this  college."  I  suppose  if  you  were  to  pass  there 
today  the  sign  would  read, — "We  make  cabinet  officers,  Cortelyou 
began  his  career  with  us."  Other  business  colleges  might  make 
s"milar  statements  because,  until  recently,  they  have  been  the  only 
means  by  which  a  young  man  or  woman  could  get  a  start  in  the  busi- 
ness world  without  beginning  at  the  bottom.     If  we  were  to  have  a 

(254)   . 


51 

list  of  men  who  have  attended  business  colleges  it  would  surprise  us 
to  find  among  them  so  many  prominent  and  successful  men.  All 
credit  is  not  to  be  given  to  the  courses  in  business  practice,  but  it  is 
in  this  particular  department  that  the  greatest  competition  has  arisen 
and  wherein  the  most  prosperous  business  colleges  have  excelled. 
It  is  this  phase  of  the  course  that  they  have  emphasized  most  in  their 
advertisements  and  printed  matter,  claiming  in  this  particular  to 
give  young  men  and  women  "actual  business  practice." 

It  has  been  an  open  criticism  for  years  that  while  such  courses  in 
business  practice  are  good  as  far  as  they  go,  they  are  much  too  narrow, 
and  train  only  for  clerical  duties.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  we  should 
not  follow  the  definition  of  business  practice  as  outlined  by  the  busi- 
ness colleges,  but  rather  should  undertake  to  grasp  the  business 
man's  meaning  and  extend  it  to  all  phases  of  business  activitv.  In 
other  words,  courses  in  business  practice  should  not  only  include 
practice  in  bookkeeping,  correspondence,  commercial  papers,  and 
business  forms,  but  they  should  also  include  the  science  and  art  of 
funding  operations,  buying,  advertising,  selling,  credits,  collections, 
cost  accounting,  auditing,  systematizing,  organization,  management, 
etc.  To  a  certain  extent  these  titles  are  considered  in  courses  in 
economics  and  private  law,  but  in  each  case  there  is  a  phase  that  is 
peculiar  to  business  administration  and  can  only  be  treated  from  that 
standpoint,  which  is  the  standpoint  of  the  business  man  and  not  that 
of  the  economist  or  lawyer.  The  emphasis  is  on  the  art  not  so  much 
the  science  or  law.  To  the  educator  it  may  seem  mercenary,  but  the 
business  man  is  not  in  business  for  his  health  any  more  than  the 
teacher,  preacher,  or  lawyer.  And  the  teaching  of  good  principles 
and  practice  in  business  should  lead  to  wholesome  results  by  training 
young  men  for  honorable  business  careers  to  be  in  the  van  of  progress, 
and  the  backbone  of  the  nation. 

The  business  colleges  devote  about  eight  hours  a  day  for  ten  weeks 
to  business  practice.  This  gives  a  total  of  nearly  five  hundred  hours, 
which  in  University  time  is  about  two  hours  a  week,  with  preparation 
for  three  years.  But,  as  has  been  shown,  the  business  colleges  do  not 
include  more  than  a  quarter  to  a  third  of  the  courses  that  should  be 
taught.  In  other  words,  the  larger  course  we  have  suggested  would 
run  throughout  a  four  years'  course,  five  hours  a  week,  with  prepara- 
tion. It  is  impossible  to  thus  give  one-third  of  a  college  course  to 
business  practice.  This  time  must  be  cut  down  either  by  eliminating 
the  suggested  courses  or  working  on  a  different  plan.  We  should  not 
omit  any  of  the  titles  suggested,  for,  in  general,  they  are  coordinate. 
This  necessitates  introducing  plans  and  methods  which  provide 
instruction  in  the  various  subjects,  and  within  reasonable  limits. 

A  second  limitation  to  be  mentioned  is  the  complete  lack  of  books 
suitable  for  college  texts.     Texts  are  not  needed  in  the   advanced 

(255) 


52 

courses,  but  are  a  necessity  in  the  large  classes  of  the  first  two  or 
two  and  a  half  years.  The  books  on  bookkeeping,  etc.,  are  made  for 
the  business  colleges  and  high  schools,  and  are  too  long  drawn  out  for 
college  work.  The  books  on  other  subjects  in  the  business  series  now 
being  issued  by  several  publishing  houses  are  written  for  high  schools 
and  popular  reading  and  in  general  are  not  suitable  for  work  of  uni- 
versity grade.  The  results  are  that  the  instructors  in  business  prac- 
tice have  to  spend  too  much  valuable  time  cutting,  splicing,  and 
modifying  to  suit  the  conditions.  The  methods  of  teaching  which  I 
shall  consider  in  a  moment  will  doubtless  work  most  instructors  to 
death,  but  will  enable  the  few  who  survive  to  get  out  some  books 
suitable  for  college  texts  in  business  practice. 

The  third  and  last  limitation  which  I  shall  consider  is  that  of 
equipment.  At  present  it  is  quite  impossible  to  secure  room  and 
furniture  to  equip  a  department  of  business  practice  similar  to  business 
ofifices  and  where  the  various  duties  could  be  experienced  by  a  large 
body  of  students.  In  progressive  universities  there  is  a  constant 
clamor  for  floor  space  and  furniture  to  accommodate  the  increase  in 
students  and  instructional  force.  With  ofhce  accommodations  for 
upwards  of  two  hundreds  of  students,  as  is  the  case  in  the  courses  in 
business  practice  at  Wisconsin,  it  is  easy  to  imagine  the  magnitude  of 
the  problem.  As  much  care  should  be  exercised  in  installing  a  labora- 
tory for  business  practice  as  for  physics,  chemistry,  or  engineering.  It 
is  not  only  the  question  of  furniture,  but  also  of  ofhce  equipment  in 
general,  such  as  adding  machines,  loose-leaf  ledger  systems,  card 
systems,  filing  systems,  various  forms  and  bindings,  copying  devices, 
etc.  It  is  as  important  for  a  business  man  to  know  the  possibilities 
and  comparative  merits  of  "bill  and  charge"  machines,  as  for  an 
engineer  to  know  the  workings  of  a  dynamo.  Neither  may  have 
occasion  to  operate  the  respective  machines,  but  the  knowledge  of 
them  is  essential  for  general  purposes,  and  it  is  simply  this  all-round 
knowledge  that  makes  the  college  man  better  than  he  who  simply 
learned  his  duties  as  one  learns  a  trade.  He  may  not  be  as  skilled  an 
artisan  at  the  start,  but  he  will  excel  the  artisan  in  managerial  ability. 
They  may  not  be  as  good  machinists  or  bookkeepers,  but  will  make  bet- 
ter superintendents,  secretaries,  or  business  managers. 

As  to  just  how  business  practice  should  be  taught,  and  even  as  to 
just  what  subjects  should  be  considered,  is  a  matter  of  opinion.  The 
organizing  of  this  course  is  only  in  its  infancy  and  a  great  manv  plans 
must  be  tried  before  a  settled  method  can  be  agreed  upon.  For  some 
time  to  come  the  arrangement  of  the  work  will  be  governed  largely 
by  the  training  and  experience  of  the  man  in  charge.  That  of  the 
man  having  onl}'  a  college  training  must  differ  from  that  of  the  man 
who  has  added  business  experience.  The  difiference  will  not  be  so 
much  the  quality,  as  the  influence  brought  to  bear  upon  the  material, 

(2  56) 


53 

method,  and  subjects  emphasized.  The  outHne  I  shall  suggest  present- 
ly bears  upon  the  subject  matter  rather  than  the  specific  title  to  be 
given  to  the  several  divisions.  There  are  many  phases  of  business 
practice  which  are  important,  yet  in  the  crowded  arrangement  cannot 
have  separate  titles  and  must  come  under  some  larger  title  and  at 
such  a  time  as  best  suits  the  general  plan.  Then,  too,  the  order  is  a 
secondary  matter,  for  most  of  the  subjects  are  coordinate  and  inde- 
pendent. The  whole  matter  must  be  left  to  the  discretion  of  the 
instructors  and  made  to  fit  the  general  scheme  of  college  electives,  etc. 
First,  let  us  consider  business  forms  and  commercial  paper.  I 
believe  these  should  be  mastered  before  beginning  bookkeeping.  The 
principle  and  practice  of  bookkeeping  should  not  be  halted  at  every 
turn  bv  introducing  new  business  forms  and  commercial  paper.  Let 
these  be  understood  and  put  in  practice.  Procure  a  supply  of  a  large 
variety  of  forms  from  business  houses  or  have  a  supply  printed. 
Show  the  various  correct  ways  for  filling  these  forms.  Acquaint 
the  student  with  the  transactions  in  which  the  variations  are  used, 
discuss  the  significance  of  the  variations,  their  uses  and  results. 
Then  give  the  student  typical  transactions,  asking  them  to  prepare 
forms  and  commercial  papers  to  suit  the  transaction.  This  work  can 
be  extended  more  than  one  might  think  at  a  glance,  for  instance,  bills, 
invoices,  statements,  receipted  bills,  vouchers,  voucher  checks,  simple 
forms  of  sales  books,  cash  books,  ledgers,  various  forms  of  notes, 
drafts,  checks,  acceptances,  stock  certificates,  transfers,  bonds,  wills, 
deeds,  time  sheets,  pay  rolls,  freight  receipts,  bills  of  lading,  docu- 
mented bills,  etc.,  etc.  In  the  meantime  the  student  is  getting  familiar 
with  the  nature  and  meaning  of  manv  business  transactions  he  never 
heard  of  before,  and  the  interest  can  be  kept  at  a  good  pitch  by  dis- 
cussions and  lectures  touched  here  and  there  by  legal  points,  many  of 
which  should  not  be  omitted  simplv  because  a  course  in  commercial 
law  is  to  follow.  If  the  latter  is  taught  by  the  "case  method"  it  will 
be  much  more  profitable  to  the  student  and  satisfactory  to  the  in- 
structor if  the  student  has  a  general  groundwork  in  law  closely  associ- 
ated with  related  business  transactions.  When  this  general  study  of 
Vjusiness  relations  and  transactions  is  in  hand,  the  principles  of  book- 
keeping may  be  represented.  Emphasis  should  be  placed  upon 
analvsis  and  thorough  drill  in  journalizing.  A  student  should  be  able 
to  analyze  all  ordinary  transactions  before  beginning  bookkeeping 
practice.  This  will  save  time  and  avoid  the  necessity  of  drawing  out 
the  bookkeeping,  as  has  been  customarv,  by  spending  so  much  time 
on  theoretical  work  that  is  of  no  practical  use.  The  elementary  sets 
may  be  cut  out  entirely  if  the  preceding  work  is  done  well,  and,  after 
a  couple  of  lectures  on  the  fundamental  purposes  and  uses  of  the 
books,  special  ruling,  etc.,  students  mav  begin  immediately  on  a 
difficult  set  and  do  it  well.     This  work  should  be  typical  and  practical 

(257j 


54 

and  accompanied  by  lectures.  Instead  of  bookkeeping  practice 
being  a  lot  of  dry  mechanical  work  it  should  be  supplemented  by  a 
complete  yet  economical  course  on  the  transactions  and  managements 
of  the  business  it  represents.  With  so  much  else  to  be  done,  the  work 
in  bookkeeping  should  be  soon  supplemented  with  accounting  prob- 
lems which  bring  into  play  bookkeeping  of  a  large  variety  with  a 
minimum  of  attention  given  to  the  mechanical  work.  Emphasis 
should  be  put  on  such  topics  as  cost  accounting,  statements,  balance 
sheets,  voucher  records,  new  form  of  books,  such  as  self-balancing 
ledgers,  with  their  controlling  accounts,  etc.  Much  parctice  should  be 
given  in  opening  and  closing,  realization  and  liquidation,  transfers  of 
ownership,  changing  from  partnerships  to  corporations,  etc.  The 
material  for  these  topics  should  not  be  theoretical  and  elementary 
exercises  usually  given  in  bookkeeping  texts,  but  rather  should  be 
some  of  those  given  in  English  books  on  advanced  accounting,  those 
given  in  the  C.  P.  A.  examinations  of  the  various  states,  or,  still  better, 
taken  from  actual  business.  These  topics  are  very  interesting, 
and  although  they  represent  some  knotty  problems,  yet  the  students 
like  them  and  feel  great  satisfaction  when  one  has  been  solved. 
These  problems  should  be  from  various  lines  of  business,  such  as 
retailing,  comm^sion,  wholesale,  real  estate,  insurance,  transporta- 
tion, manufacturing,  banking  institutions,  etc.,  etc.  Each  business 
gives  an  opportunity  for  a  general  discussion  of  its  nature  and  char- 
acteristics and  affords  great  opportunities  for  acquainting  the  stu- 
dents with  the  particulars  of  its  administration.  Of  the  various  lines 
of  business  studied,  banking  and  manufacturing  should  be  emphasized 
because  they  give  the  greatest  variety  of  business  relations  with  a 
minimum  of  repetition  and  bring  under  consideration  most  of  the 
transactions  common  to  other  lines.  This  is  not  onlv  true  of  account- 
ing, but  of  other  phases  of  administration.  The  work  in  accounting, 
which  I  have  outlined,  should  not  occupy  the  student's  whole  time 
until  finished,  but  as  is  convenient.  Other  phases  of  administration 
should  be  considered  early  in  the  course  to  allow  the  accounting  to 
mature  in  the  students'  minds,  and,  too,  much  of  the  work  is  very 
complex  and  should  be  left  until  the  senior  year.  Fortunately  a 
great  deal  of  material  on  accounting  may  be  found  in  books.  It  is 
only  necessary  to  resort  to  business  concerns  for  current  transactions 
and  modern  practice.     This  will  be  brought  out  later. 

Business  practice  in  correspondence  presents  some  knotty  prob- 
lems due  to  the  deficient  preparation  of  the  student  in  English  com- 
position and  penmanship.  Possibly  it  is  not  so  much  the  lack  of 
preparation  as  it  is  the  subsequent  neglect  and  abuse.  So  few  of  the 
students  carry  the  practice  of  English  outside  the  class  room  and  have 
no  interest  in  the  subject  beyond  the  required  courses;  the  teacher  of 
business  is  therefore  obliged  to  teach  composition  as  well  as  commercial 

(258) 


.55 

practice.  Then,  too,  the  penmanship  is  usually  still  worse,  and  the 
student  has  to  labor  so  to  write  legibly  that  it  diffuses  his  efforts  and 
prevents  the  best  results  in  form  and  composition.  The  limited  time 
for  business  practice  will  not  permit  teaching  penmanship.  It  is  a 
habit  of  long  standing  and  cannot  be  modified  in  a  few  weeks.  Further- 
more, between  the  meetings  for  penmanship  practice  the  student 
scribbles  oft'  several  lectures  and  offsets  all  the  good  that  can  be  done. 
No,  penmanship  is  not  in  our  province,  let  him  get  it  elsewhere,  and 
if  he  cannot  learn,  set  him  at  the  typewriter.  He  can  soon  typewrite 
well  enough  to  satisfv  the  requirements  for  practice  in  correspondence, 
then  let  us  hope  he  will  soon  rise  to  a  managerial  position  where  he 
mav  have  stenographers,  and  thus  bridge  his  several  deficiencies  in 
technique.  It,  however,  remains  for  the  instructor  to  teach  him  the 
stvle  and  characteristics  of  effectual  business  correspondence.  When 
one  considers  the  magnitude  of  business  done  by  correspondence,  and 
how  such  little  things  promote  or  defeat  the  correspondent's  interests, 
too  great  care  cannot  be  exercised  in  teaching  our  young  men  what 
constitutes  good  correspondence.  It  is  a  means  of  buying  goods, 
selling  goods,  collecting  accounts,  making  contracts.  Letters  must 
carrv  personality,  tact,  persuasion,  etc.  They  must  put  force  upon 
some  points,  and  delicately  avoid  others.  If  one  could  only  know 
the  results  of  a  slight  change  in  some  of  his  letters  and  realize  how  it 
would  change  success  to  failure  or  vice  versa,  greater  care  would  be 
given  to  develop  skill  in  correspondence.  The  teaching  of  the  subject 
also  has  its  problem.  Letterwriting  usually  practiced  in  the  public 
schools  is  inadequate.  It  affords  but  little  opportunity  for  develop- 
ing the  essentials.  At  first,  of  course,  the  student  must  study  good 
form  and  expression,  which  can  be  done  by  reproducing  good  copies. 
In  this  connection  I  should  use  good  letters  secured  from  business 
concerns.  Lectures  and  discussions  may  accomplish  much,  but  the 
heart  of  the  course  must  be  personal  instruction.  Sweeping  criti- 
cisms in  class  do  not  benefit  the  individual.  You  must  discuss  each 
man's  work  personally.  Some  have  great  possibilities  which  should 
be  developed,  while  others  must  be  drawn  out  inch  by  inch,  and  then 
get  only  meagre  results.  When  this  is  well  under  way  extensive 
practice  should  be  given  in  actual  correspondence.  The  instructor 
should  simply  give  the  purpose  of  the  letter  together  with  the  essential 
facts,  and  leave  the  student  to  shape  the  letter.  Every  letter  should 
be  criticised  and  discussed  in  every  detail.  This  takes  much  time,  but 
it  pays.  I  might  suggest  that  the  work  in  teaching  correspondence 
can  be  very  much  reduced  by  using  graphophones.  Not  only  will 
they  lessen  the  work,  but  afford  possibilities  which  cannot  be  accom- 
plished otherwise.  For  instance,  the  instructor  cannot  have  each  stu- 
dent with  him  when  he  is  criticising  his  work,  but  with  the  grapho- 
phone  he  can  rapidly  dictate  the  criticism  in  detail  one  after  another  at 

^259) 


56 

his  will,  and  the  student  may  hear  the  critisicm  with  his  letter  before 
him  and  without  taking  his  instructor's  time.  If  he  does  not  get  the 
full  meaning  the  first  time,  he  has  only  to  repeat  the  record  until  he 
does.  There  are  a  lot  of  other  economies  of  this  sort.  The  grapho- 
phone  has  its  limitations,  and  we  have  all  heard  it  squawk  some 
favorite  air  until  we  shivered,  yet  if  it  has  a  commercial  value  we 
should  not  allow  prejudice  to  debar  it.* 

The  art  of  buying,  advertising,  and  selling  goods,  should  receive 
due  consideration.  The  major  part  must  be  given  to  advertising  and 
sales,  but  the  art  of  buying  must  not  be  rejected,  for  the  proverb  that 
"Goods  well  bought  are  half  sold"  is  as  true  today  as  ever.  It  is  not 
so  much  the  act  of  buying  as  it  is  to  know  what  to  buy,  where  to  buy, 
and  when  to  buy.  This  course  is  preceded  by  economic  geography, 
where  natural  products  are  traced  from  the  place  of  production  to 
home  markets.  In  business  practice  these  markets  are  compared  as 
to  prices  and  location.  Partially  manufactured  goods  are  traced  in 
the  same  manner.  Prices  and  values  at  convenient  distributing  points 
are  compared  with  those  of  industrial  centers.  The  rise  and  fall  of 
prices  are  studied  and  principles  underlying  "buying  close"  or  "con- 
tracting ahead"  are  considered.  This  touches  familiar  fields  in 
economics,  yet,  as  stated  before,  deals  with  the  art  of  buving  rather 
than  the  economics  of  prices. 

Advertising  and  sales  are  studied  together.  In  fact,  they  cannot 
be  separated  in  business.  Several  books  on  advertising  have  appeared 
recently  and  help  the  cause  somewhat,  but  an  undergraduate  course 
in  this  subject  is  not  to  make  ad-writers.  The  purpose  is  rather  to 
lead  students  to  an  appreciation  of  its  uses  and  abuses,  its  powers 
and  limitations,  to  familiarize  them  with  its  history  and  modern  prac- 
tice, and  to  lead  them  to  better  understand  its  possibilities  and  how 
it  has  come  to  serve  a  great  purpose  in  selling  products  to  the  whole 
world  at  a  minimum  of  expense.  Advertising  has  its  drawbacks,  but 
it  has  been  a  great  factor  in  developing  modern  industry.  As  stated 
above,  there  are  enough  books  on  the  subject  to  supply  an  under- 
graduate course,  but  if  the  subject  is  to  be  presented  at  its  best, 
inductive  work  must  be  done. 

Specimens  of  all  kinds  of  advertising  for  the  past  twenty  to  fifty 
years  can  be  used  to  advantage  with  special  emphasis  on  those  of  the 
past  decade.  This  brings  out  not  only  valuable  study  of  the  subject 
in  hand,  but  also  a  fund  of  information  on  industrial  developments. 
It  gives  the  student  great  range  of  view  together  with  a  keener  sense 
of  the  essential  of  good  advertising  and  the  principles  which  underly 
its  effect  on  the  minds  of  prospective  purchasers.  Much  of  the  ma- 
terial can  be  clipped  from  old  magazines  stored  in  the  attics  of  nearly 
every  home,  and  running  back  indefinitely.  Bound  magazines,  of 
course,  are  useless,  but  in  most  libraries  there  are  large  files  of  unbound 

(260) 


57 

magazines  and  papers.  While  these  cannot  be  mutilated,  they  may 
be  used  for  illustrative  purposes.  For  general  study  of  bill  boards, 
photographs  must  be  used,  and  for  street  car  ad\-ertising,  one  must  go 
direct  to  the  advertisers  or  be  satisfied  with  a  current  collection. 
This  all  takes  time,  but  is  no  greater  task  than  has  been  undertaken 
with  success  by  educators  in  other  lines.  For  "  follow  up  "  ad\-ertising 
it  is  only  necessary  to  have  your  business  friends  save  the  mass  they 
receive  in  the  course  of  a  year,  and  you  will  have  ample  material  for 
several  courses.  These  afford  excellent  opportunity'  for  analysis 
and  comparison  of  some  of  the  best  advertising ;  they  are  planned  and 
executed  with  great  care.  In  many  cases  they  fail  because  founded 
on  unsound  principles  of  psychology  and  human  nature.  This  the 
students  should  discover. 

What  is  true  of  advertising  is  generally  true  of  selling  goods.  The 
two  activities  are  working  to  the  same  end,  viz.,  to  create  a  demand  for 
our"  goods  and  dispose  of  the  same  at  a  profit.  One  can  no  longer 
sell  goods  bv  appealing  to  sympathy,  nor  can  the  salesman  increase 
the  business  naturally  by  tenacity  or  perseverance,  if  his  product  is 
without  merit.  Good  goods,  moderate  prices,  and  a  responsible 
house  are  essentials  for  permanent  sales.  While  we  must  admit  that 
there  are  many  lines  of  business  not  based  upon  sound  principles,  it 
is  our  purpose  to  show  their  abuses  and  shortcomings,  compare  their 
utilitv  and  character  with  stable  concerns,  and  then  dwell  at  length 
upon  how  stable  and  respectable  concerns  market  their  product. 
There  are  almost  unlimited  possibilities  of  production,  but  success, 
after  all,  depends  largely  upon  ability  to  sell  at  a  profit.  In  this 
connection  students  should  be  given  much  practice  in  correspondence. 
To  be  able  to  buy  and  sell  to  advantage  by  correspondence  is  an  art, 
and  in  manv  lines  is  an  economy,  and,  as  you  all  know,  there  are 
hundreds  of  large  concerns  which  do  business  in  no  other  way. 

To  sell  goods  is  one  thing,  to  get  your  pay  is  another.  Very  little 
business  is  "spot  cash."  Most  domestic  sales  are  on  credit  of  from 
seven  days  to  four  months.  But  to  sell  a  bill  of  goods  on  credit  to 
be  paid  for  on  a  certain  dav  does  not  assure  you  that  at  that  time  the 
cash  will  be  laid  on  your  cashier's  desk.  In  most  cases  unless  you 
take  the  initiative  it  will  never  reach  you.  Nearly  everyone  who 
buys  on  credit  lets  it  run  just  as  long  as  possible.  He  does  not  pay 
the  bill  until  he  receives  from  one  to  a  dozen  requests,  and  sometimes 
waits  for  a  lawsuit  or  mechanic's  lien.  People  are  anxious  enough 
to  buv  goods,  but  not  so  willing  to  pay  for  them,  and,  furthermore, 
resent  a  request  no  matter  how  courteous  or  long  deferred.  These 
conditions  make  collecting  an  art.  Again  the  skilled  correspondent 
is  at  a  premium.  It  should  be  much  cheaper  to  do  out-of-town 
collecting  by  correspondence.  The  adroit  and  tactful  credit  man 
accomplishes    much    by    this    means.     The    student    should    become 

(261) 


58 

familiar  with  the  general  principles  and  terms  of  credit  and  the 
essential  legal  points  in  the  various  states.  Several  books  are  coming 
out  on  Credits  and  Collections,  but  the  instructor  in  collecting  material 
should  make  a  good  collection  of  practical  information  from  credit 
men,  together  with  form  letters  and  copies  of  personal  letters  of  striking 
quality.  Students  appreciate  this,  and  the  influences  of  some  clever 
phrases  of  good  letters  remain  with  them  indefinitelv. 

The  economists  are  making  a  thorough  study  of  credit,  and  have 
been  for  years.  It  is  the  backbone  of  our  commercial,  industrial,  and 
financial  activities.  Credit  and  collections  are  one  side  of  the  question, 
and  funding  operations  are  the  other.  The  latter  resolve  themselves 
into  two  distinct  groups,  viz.,  commercial  or  short-time  credit,  and  long- 
time credit.  As  the  profits  of  a  bank  are  largelv  the  profits  on  the 
deposits  of  its  customers,  so  the  profits  of  mercantile  and  industrial 
concerns  may  be  the  profits  of  operating  on  borrowed  capital.  If  the 
profits  on  the  business  are  greater  than  the  rate  of  interest,  it  is  usually 
a  good  business  policy  to  increase  the  output  by  borrowing  within 
reasonable  limits.  When  to  borrow,  and  how  to  borrow,  is  no  less  a 
phase  of  business  administration  than  other  activities,  and  falls  under 
the  head  of  business  practice.  First,  there  must  be  a  good  under- 
standing of  funding  institutions,  viz:  banks,  trust  companies,  insur- 
ance companies,  etc.  This  brings  out  the  general  practice  of  these 
institutions  in  connection  with  funding  operations,  and,  knowing  this, 
the  student  can  appreciate  the  significance  of  various  methods  of 
procuring  funds,  together  with  their  possibilities  and  limitations. 
The  art  of  when  to  borrow  and  how  to  borrow  can  be  discussed  in 
this  connection.  Here  again,  must  be  added  a  liberal  amount  of 
current  information.  The  instructor  must  consult  or  correspond 
with  business  men  in  various  lines  of  business  and  learn  from  them 
what  is  being  done.  The  essential  work  in  teaching  business  is  to 
discover  and  teach  the  current  practice.  While  all  must  be  grounded 
on  principles  and  history,  greatest  stress  must  be  put  upon  the  prac- 
tice of  the  present.  So  far,  we  have  considered  the  subjects  of  business 
forms,  commercial  paper,  bookkeeping,  accounting,  correspondence, 
buying,  advertising,  selling,  credits,  collections,  and  funding  opera 
tions.  There  remain  at  least  four  more  titles  for  consideration,  viz: 
organization,  system,  auditing,  and  management.  Each  considers 
all  that  has  preceded. 

Organization  and  system  run  parallel  and  coincide  at  many  points. 
There  are  several  books  and  magazines  along  this  line  which  help  a 
great  deal,  but  the  instructor  must  depend  upon  general  investigation 
for  most  of  his  material  and  matter.  Extended  correspondence  with 
business  men  who  are  interested  in  educational  matters  is  of  great 
help,  but  there  are  so  few  who  are  willing  to  devote  valuable  time  to 
such   matters  that  it  takes  a  great  deal  of  effort  to  get  a  small  amount 

(262) 


59 

of  material.  However,  the  only  way  to  get  it  is  by  studying  modern 
concerns.  One  can  get  much  help  from  the  advertising  matter  of 
various  systems  and  devices.  Professional  accountants  are  often 
quite  willing  to  take  you  over  one  or  more  of  the  plants  they  have 
organized.  This  helps,  and  in  time  a  good  course  may  be  given. 
Along  with  this  should  be  a  careful  study  of  the  various  office  systems, 
filing  cabinets,  time  saving  devices,  etc.  Familiarity  with  their 
comparative  uses  and  values  is  essential  if  one  is  to  understand  the 
greatest  possibilities  and  economies.  It  is  just  as  important  to  know 
when  devices  are  unnecessarv  as  when  to  install  them.  Out  of  the 
general  mass  of  equipment  offered  for  sale  the  instructor  must  glean 
the  important  material  and  present  it  in  such  a  way  that  students 
will  get  general  principles  rather  than  details.  It  is  quite  impossible 
to  discuss  at  length  the  organization  and  system  of  various  lines  of 
business.  Advanced  work  should  be  left  for  special  elective  courses, 
permitting  students  to  select  those  lines  in  which  they  have  special 
interest.  In  this  connection  I  believe  much  can  be  accomplished  if 
the  instructor  is  willing  to  work  up  a  small  clientele  and  do  more  or 
less  W'Ork  in  organizing  and  systematizing  for  going  concerns  and 
permitting  the  students  to  help  as  much  as  lies  in  their  power.  I 
believe  there  are  great  possibilities  in  this  direction  which  will  prove 
of  exceptional  value  in  getting  the  student  accustomed  to  the  atmos- 
phere and  acquainted  with  the  details  of  modern  practice  in  large 
business  concerns.  It  is  not  time  yet  to  estimate  the  outcome,  but  I 
believe  that  in  a  few  years  this  suggestion  will  be  carried  into  opera- 
tion, and  that  this  particular  phase  of  the  courses  in  business  practice 
will  accomplish  quite  remarkable  results.  As  I  have  stated,  it  em- 
bodies all  that  has  preceded,  and  affords  opportunity  for  application 
of  all  knowledge  that  has  accumulated  to  the  student's  credit. 

Auditing  must  be  taught  much  the  same  way  as  accounting,  plus 
the  work  in  organization  and  system.  The  general  principles  and 
many  of  the  details  may  be  studied  from  books,  which  at  present  are 
mostly  from  authors  who  are  English  accountants.  Some  practice 
may  be  given  if  the  plan  suggested  for  application  in  work  systematiz- 
ing is  adopted,  but,  after  all,  auditing  is  so  devoted  to  details  that  it 
had  better  be  given  as  an  advanced  course  in  the  list  of  electives  and 
given  enough  independent  time  to  make  the  men  proficient  in  the 
subject.  When  studying  organization  and  system  the  subject  of 
auditing  is  constantly  under  consideration  and  a  great  deal  about 
auditing  is  taught  indirectly. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  say  much  about  the  study  of  management. 
If  all  that  has  preceded  has  been  worked  to  a  single  plan  and  purpose, 
the  details  of  the  various  activities  have  received  due  consideration, 
and  it  is  hardly  necessary  to  do  more  than  discuss  them  from  the 
standpoint  of  the  management  and  formulate  general  principles.     To 

(263) 


60 

summarize  and  show  the  various  activities  as  thev  occur  in  various 
lines  of  business  is  all  that  can  be  expected  on  the  subject  of  manage- 
ment at  the  end  of  so  general  a  course.  As  has  alreadv  been  stated, 
the  best  we  can  expect  is  to  consider  the  fundamental  principles,  and 
enough  details  to  fix  the  work,  and  sufficient  application  to  acquaint 
the  student  with  modern  business  practice.  More  than  this  cannot 
be  done  in  a  general  undergraduate  course.  If  more  is  to  be  taught 
on  any  of  the  subjects,  elective  courses  in  advertising,  accounting, 
and  auditing,  organization  and  management,  etc.,  should  be  provided. 
Or  another  good  arrangement  is  to  give  courses  in  business  adminis- 
tration for  special  lines  of  business,  viz:  Banking  and  Finance,  Trans- 
portation, Manufacturing  Industries,  etc.  Such  matters  will  shape 
themselves  when  a  good  general  course  is  provided.  The  planning 
and  necessary  details  alone  will  occupy  the  time  of  the  few  men  in  the 
work  for  some  time  to  come.  Each,  independently,  will  work  out 
many  problems,  and  later  the  best  may  be  remoulded  into  one  general 
plan  embodying  the  best  of  all  others.  There  is  no  reason  whv  the 
courses  in  business  practice  should  not  do  credit  to  any  institution. 
They  do  not  violate  educational  ideals  any  more  than  other  utilitarian 
courses,  such  as  applied  courses  in  mathematics,  chemistrv,  phvsics, 
geology,  mineralogy,  conversational  courses  in  German,  French, 
Spanish,  and  English  courses  for  newspaper  writing,  etc.  If  the 
motives  are  right,  business  practice  is  worthy  of  the  best  educational 
forces;  and  let  us  hope  that  the  field  will  be  rapidly  recruited  with 
men  who  are  not  only  prepared  to  do  the  work,  but  men  who  are 
deeply  interested  in  education,  holding  to  high  ideals  for  general  good 
rather  than  the  special  interest,  and  who  are  willing  to  persevere  in  a 
calling  that  is  bound  to  elevate  the  character  and  standard  of  the 
commercial  and  industrial  world. 


DISCUSSION 

Mr.  G.  W.  Brown 
President  and  Manager  of  Brown's  Business  Colleges 

I  cannot  help  wondering  what  Father  Bartlett  would  ha\'e  thought, 
the  man  who  fifty-odd  vears  ago  attempted  the  first  commercial  school 
in  this  country,  if  he  could  have  heard  this  paper.  He  said  he  had 
finished  his  apprenticeship  when  he  was  twenty-one,  and  desired  to 
know  more  of  bookkeeping.  He  looked  about  and  found  no  school  in 
which  it  was  taught.  He  inquired  of  business  men  and  was  told  that 
it  could  not  be  taught  in  a  business  school,  but  must  be  taught  in  the 
office.  Looking  about,  he  could  find  no  office  where  he  could  learn  it. 
He  said,  "Well,  this  is  a  strange  occupation,  where  you  cannot  get  in 
without  knowing  how  and  cannot  know  how  without  getting  in." 
He  told  me  he  made  a  resolution  then  to  spend  his  life  in  attempting 

(264) 


61 

to  make  good  that  loss  to  young  men.  He  did  it,  and  has  hved  to  see 
the  students  in  business  colleges  number  hundreds  of  thousands. 

But  I  am  asked  to  criticize  the  paper.  It  is  almost  too  good  to  be 
believed  that  this  kind  of  a  course  can  be  carried  out  in  the  State 
University.  If  I  should  pass  criticism  at  all  I  should  say  it  seems  to 
involve  such  a  multitude  of  detail  that  I  should  not  think  there  could 
be  room  for  the  other  branches  which  should  make  part  of  the  univer- 
sity course. 

I  believe  that  the  time  will  come  in  this  countrv  when  some  such  a 
course  as  has  been  sketched  today  will  be  very  popular  in  the  univer- 
sities, a  time  when  it  will  come  to  be  understood  that  a  multitude  of 
J.  P.  Morgans  are  needed  to  transact  the  business  of  this  country. 
There  is  a  feature  of  business  which  has  not  caused  much  attention. 
I  refer  to  the  consular  service  in  which  skilled  vdtmg  Americans  will 
be  needed,  who  are  able  to  speak  the  language  of  the  people  to  whom 
they  go,  and  who  will  be  well  versed  in  the  history,  geographv  and 
economic  conditions  of  the  country  to  which,  they  are  accredited. 
When  it  becomes  apparent  that  such  young  men  are  necessary,  they 
will  be  forthcoming,  and  the  university  will  have  its  opportunitv  to 
prepare  the  facilities  to  carry  the  work  on. 

My  thinking  along  these  lines  has  been  on  a  very  narrow  plane. 
We  have  seen  the  problems,  we  have  realized  the  necessity  of  a  broader 
course,  but  in  our  line,  our  limitations  are  such  that  such  a  course  is 
beyond  the  reach  of  the  private  commercial  school;  and  yet,  I  have  no 
recollection  in  all  my  commercial  school  work  of  about  fortv  years  of 
the  time  when  the  pressure  is  as  great  upon  us  as  now.  There  seems 
to  be  no  end,  absolutely  no  end,  to  the  desire  for  this  education. 

If  the  gentleman  can  carry  out  this  program  he  will  certainly 
secure  great  results,  and  I  am  not  afraid  of  the  popularity  of  the  course. 
If  the  time  shall  come  when  the  universities  and  colleges  and  high 
schools  are  better  able  to  do  this  work  than  any  other  agency  now  de- 
vised, I  shall  thank  God  for  it ;  and  I  as  an  instructor  in  private  schools 
will  be  able  to  step  down  and  out,  knowing  the  work  will  be  better 
done.  You  will  find  in  your  universities  in  a  couple  of  years  that  the 
greatest  demand  you  will  have  on  your  hands  will  be  the  solving  of 
this  great  commercial  question. 


WHAT  BUSINESS  MEN  WANT  YOUNG  MEN  TO  KNOW 

Mr.  David  R.  Forgan 
The  First  National  Bank,  Chicago 

The  subject  which  has  been  assigned  to  me  raises  a  simple  business- 
like question  which  I  shall  try  to  answer  in  a  brief,  business-like  way. 
Before  attempting  to  answer  it  specifically,  however,  let  me  say  that  I 
rejoice  that  the  day  seems  to  be  dawning  when  specialization  in  edu- 

(265) 


62 

cation  is  to  be  the  rule — when  the  man  who  is  to  manufacture  soap  is 
to  have  a  different  training  from  the  man  who  is  to  make  sermons,  and 
the  one  who  is  to  follow  finance  is  no  longer  to  be  required  to  pass  an 
examination  in  philology. 

Commercial  life  is  different  from  professional  life,  and,  therefore, 
commercial  education  should  differ  from  professional  education. 

The  question  is  still  asked  whether  a  young  man  entering  business 
life  is  helped  or  handicapped  by  a  university  course.  Even  so  wise  a 
man  as  Mr.  Carnegie  thinks  he  is  better  without  it.  If  anv  one  here 
is  inclined  to  that  opinion  I  would  recommend  a  perusal  of  a  published 
address  by  Prof.  J.  Scott  Clark  of  the  Northwestern  University, 
which  I  think  will  convince  you  that  it  pays  to  go  to  college.  Neither 
professor  nor  pupil,  however,  must  imagine  that  a  college  course  can 
make  a  business  rrfen.  Some  so-called  business  colleges  profess  to  do 
so,  and  that  is  their  weakness.  A  graduate  of  a  business  college  told 
me  when  he  had  finished  the  course  in  banking  that  he  felt  sure  he 
could  run  a  bank,  but  I  soon  found  he  could  not  even  balance  a  pass- 
book. Only  experience,  hard,  trying  and  disappointing  experience, 
can  make  a  business  man.  But  just  as  the  university  can  put  the 
student  through  a  course  of  study  which,  with  experience  added,  will 
produce  an  able  lawyer  or  skillful  physician,  so  I  believe  that  it  can 
supply  the  foundations  upon  which  a  successful  business  career  may  be 
built.  Such  a  career  w411  involve  industry,  faithfulness  to  duty,  the 
welcoming  instead  of  shirking  of  responsibility;  it  will  require  self- 
reliance,  judgment  of  men,  the  capacity  of  seeing  things  as  they  are, 
and  not  as  they  are  represented;  it  will  call  for  courage,  faith  and  far- 
sightedness; above  all,  it  will  demand  truth,  square  dealing,  and 
integrity  of  character.  All  that  will  tend  to  implant  such  principles 
and  foster  such  attributes  of  character  may  safely  be  included  in  a 
commercial  education.  Specifically,  the  things  a  young  man  ought 
to  know  as  a  result  of  his  educational  course  are  the  things  which  will 
best  help  him  in  his  work  and  lead  to  his  rapid  promotion.  They  are 
neither  numerous  nor  difficult  to  learn ;  but  judging  from  mv  experience 
in  employing  men,  they  are  very  rare  qualifications  in  this  country. 

What  are  they? 

First:  To  know  how  to  write  a  good  legible  hand,  to  make  good 
figures,  and  to  place  them  correctly — the  units  below  the  units,  the 
tens  below  the  tens,  and  so  on. 

Second:  To  know  how  to  add,  subtract  or  multiply  figures  after 
they  have  been  correctly  taken  down,  and  to  do  it  rapidly,  and  with 
perfect  accuracy ;  and 

Third:  To  know  how  to  express  yourself  clearly,  briefly,  and  gram- 
matically in  a  letter,  and  how  to  spell  the  words  correctly. 

A  few  years  ago  I  was  taking  three  young  fellows  of  about  eighteen 
years  of  age  into  business.     They  had  all  graduated  from  the  high 

(266) 


03 

school.  As  a  test  I  gave  each  of  them  forty  old  checks  and  instructed 
them  to  take  down  the  amount  of  each  check,  and  then  add  the  column 
to  ascertain  the  total.  After  they  had  labored  with  this  gigantic 
task  for  half  an  hour  I  went  over  to  see  how  they  were  doing,  and  found 
them  all  terribly  bus\'  and  unwilling  to  submit  the  result  of  their 
labors  to  my  inspection.  I  gave  them  more  time.  Returning  later, 
I  found  them  still  anxiously  checking  and  re-checking  their  work,  and 
I  took  their  examination  papers  from  them.  They  had  all  done  the 
job  several  times,  but  not  one  of  the  three  had  taken  down  the  figures 
correctly,  and  not  one  of  them  had  correctly  added  the  figures  thev 
had  taken  down.  The  task  was  beyond  their  powers.  Thev  explained 
to  me  that  they  had  had  no  arithmetic  for  the  past  five  years  and  were 
a  little  "rusty"  on  it.  I  remember  that  word  "rusty."  It  struck  me 
forciblv  at  the  time.  They  informed  me  if  I  would  try  them  on  mvth- 
ology,  they  could  pass,  but  I  told  them  I  had  no  use  for  myths  in  the 
banking  business. 

Xow.  I  left  school  when  I  was  fifteen,  and  any  one  of  the  boys  in 
the  upper  half  of  my  class  could  have  taken  down  the  amounts  of  400 
checks  in  less  time  and  added  them  without  a  mistake.  Moreover,  if 
anyone  had  called  off  the  amounts  of  forty  checks  about  as  fast  as  I 
am  reading  this  sentence,  any  one  of  us  could  have  given  the  correct 
total  without  putting  down  a  single  figure.     But  that  was  in  Scotland! 

Let  me  tell  you  another  actual  experience :  In  my  office  we  keep  a 
file  of  the  letters  of  application  received  from  boys,  and  when  we  want 
a  boy  we  select  the  most  promising  letter  and  look  up  the  author. 
Some  years  ago  our  head  clerk  informed  me  that  we  wanted  a  bov.  I 
told  him  to  select  the  best  six  letters  from  the  file  and  bring  them  to 
me.  Not  one  of  the  six  letters  was  perfect  in  spelling,  or  bevond  criticism 
in  grammatical  construction.  In  the  matter  of  penmanship  I  need 
not  tell  any  business  man,  nor  any  college  professor  who  has  examina- 
tion papers  to  look  over,  that  our  schools  turn  out  the  poorest  writers 
to  be  found  anywhere  in  the  civilized  world.  I  do  not  see  how  it 
could  be  otherwise  so  long  as  children  are  taught  to  write  with  the 
penholder  sticking  up  perpendicularly  in  their  fists  instead  of  being 
held  lightly  by  the  fingers  with  the  end  of  the  penholder  pointing  to 
the  shoulder. 

I  have  not  given  this  subject  careful  thought  or  wide  investigation, 
and  I  may  be  all  wrong;  but  speaking  as  a  business  man  of  some  ex- 
perience, and  as  a  father  of  a  familv,  I  charge  the  public  schools  of  this 
country  with  attempting  to  teach  so  manv  subjects  that  the  things 
which  I  consider  essential  and  fundamental  to  a  business  education 
are  not  being  so  thoroughly  drilled  into  the  boys  as  their  importance 
demands.  The  simple  accomplishments  which  I  have  mentioned  are 
the  essential  tools  wdth  which  business  men  want  boys  to  be  provided 
when  they  begin  a  commercial  career. 

(267) 


64 

If  a  boy  is  to  achieve  great  success,  however,  there  is  another 
instrument  which  he  will  need — a  ^Yell-trained  mind.  That  is  what  a 
university  course  should  give  him.  A  mind  trained  to  concentrated 
study,  to  careful  analysis  of  the  subject  in  hand,  and  to  be  content 
with  nothing  short  of  the  complete  mastery  of  it,  is  the  best  equipment 
for  business  life  a  young  man  can  possess.  You  cannot  teach  the 
technical  knowledge  of  any  particular  business,  and  to  my  mind  it 
does  not  matter  so  much  what  subjects  you  place  in  your  commercial 
curriculum. 

The  general  culture  of  an  educated  gentleman  is  not  wasted  on  a 
business  man.  Naturally,  however,  the  course  should  lean  towards 
subjects  of  practical  value,  such  as  geography,  bookkeeping,  general 
banking  methods,  exchange  and  clearing  house  systems,  note  circula- 
tion, negotiable  instruments,  and  the  uses  and  abuses  of  credit. 
Political  economy,  commercial  law,  the  history  of  American  railroads, 
and  the  wonderful  development  of  our  natural  resources  which  is 
continually  going  on — all  these  will  help  the  storing  and  training  of  a 
mind  fitted  for  success  in  business  life.  To  be  a  fine  penman,  an  accu- 
rate accountant,  and  a  good  correspondent  is  practically  all  that  a 
young  man  needs  to  begin  with.  But  if  he  is  nothing  more  his  career 
is  apt  to  start  off  brilliantly  and  then  stop  short  of  real  success.  He 
may  become  a  good  lieutenant,  but  if  he  is  to  develop  into  a  general,  or 
a  field  marshal,  or  a  Marshall  Field,  he  must  add  to  natural  capacity  a 
breadth  of  mind  which  is  most  likely  to  be  attained  by  a  liberal  educa- 
tion. 

In  closing  let  me  say  that  there  is  one  thing  business  men  want 
young  men  to  know,  which  is  more  important  than  all  else,  namely, 
that  integrity  of  character  is,  after  all,  the  greatest  power  in  the  busi- 
ness world. 

In  these  days  of  graft  and  exaggerated  reports  of  graft,  it  some- 
times seems  as  if  all  business  were  crooked,  and  all  men  dishonest. 
Such  a  conclusion,  however,  would  be  hasty  and  unwarranted.  The 
revelations  of  moral  obliquity  on  the  part  of  men  in  high  positions  do 
not  prove  that  the  great  solid  middle  classes  are  dishonest.  They 
only  prove  that,  no  matter  how  rich  or  influential  a  thief  may  be,  his 
sin  will  surely  find  him  out.  The  moral  sense  of  the  great  majority 
still  revolts  at  dishonesty,  and  the  great  mass  of  business  is  still  trans- 
acted on  a  perfectly  straight  basis — the  basis  of  simple  honesty.  Think 
for  a  moment  of  the  place  and  potency  of  credit  in  the  modern  business 
world.  The  life-blood  of  modern  commerce  is  not  gold — it  is  credit. 
Over  ninety  percent  of  all  business  transactions  involve  credit.  Without 
credit  modern  business  would  simply  collapse.  Credit  starts  enter- 
prises, builds  railroads,  manufactures  goods,  moves  merchandise,  wages 
wars,  sustains  nations,  makes  civilization.  Now  if  all  this  be  true,  if  the 
whole  system-  of  modern  business  is  built  upon  credit,   then  credit 

(268) 


65 

itself  must  rest  upon  a  firm  foundation,  or  the  entire  structure  would 
crumble  to  ruin.  That  foundation  is  character.  Credit,  derived  from 
"credo,"  implies  faith.  Every  transaction  accomplished  by  credit  is 
based  upon  confidence  in  the  integrity  of  someone.  Thus  character 
is  the  verv  foundation  of  modern  business,  and  ultimate  success  on  any 
other  basis  is  almost  an  impossibility. 

A  course  in  commercial  education  should,  therefore,  include  moral 
teaching.  The  best  business  men  in  the  community  stand  for  much 
more  than  the  mere  accun)ulation  of  wealth.  Although  devoted 
mainlv  to  making  money  a  business  man's  life  need  not  be  sordid.  He, 
too,  mav  have  his  ideals,  his  friendships,  his  philanthropies,  his  yearn- 
ing after  the  higher  and  more  excellent  things  of  life. 
"The  grace  of  friendship,  mind  and  heart 

Linked  with  their  fellow  heart  and  mind ; 
The  gains  of  science,  gift  of  art. 

The  sense  of  oneness  with  our  kind. 
The  thirst  to  know  and  understand, 
A  large  and  liberal  discontent — 
These  are  the  gifts  in  life's  rich  hand, 
The  things  that  are  more  excellent." 


DISCUSSION 

Mr.  E.  L.  Scott 
General  Manager  of  Sears,  Roebuck  and  Co.,  Chicago 

In  giving  consideration  to  young  men  who  are  possibilities  as 
future  executives,  I  have  made  it  a  practice  to  study  them  from  four 
view-points,  in  the  following  order:  character,  health,  ability,  knowl- 
edge. 

You  will  note  that  knowledge  is  the  last  named.  Hence,  in  dis- 
cussing what  I,  as  a  business  man,  want  young  men  to  know,  were  I 
to  assume  that  this  subject  contemplates  only  the  practical  knowledge 
of  business  affairs,  I  would  be  held  to  the  last  of  the  four  essentials 
which  make  a  well-rounded  business  man,  and  would  thus  fall  short  of 
my  present  opportunity. 

Verv  frequentlv  a  little  knowledge  is  a  dangerous  thing,  and  it  is 
sometimes  hard  for  the  young  man  who  has  splashed  an  oar  in  a  little 
inland  lake  to  realize  that  this  does  not  make  him  capable  of  com- 
manding an  ocean  liner. 

This  must  not  be  thought  to  imply  that  I  have  not  full  faith  in  the 
possibilities  of  young  men  securing  an  advanced  knowledge  of  busi- 
ness affairs.  On  the  contrary,  thoughtful  and  far-seeing  business 
men  will  welcome  an  intelligent  development  of  commercial  education. 
That  the  thinking  educators  are  today  wide  awake  to  the  commercial 
demands  of  the  country,  is  in  keeping  with  the  age  which  requires 
preparedness  just  as  much  for  the  shop  as  for  the  office. 

(269) 


66 

I  would  take  the  subject  in  its  broadest  sense.  When  I  demand  of 
young  men  that  they  possess  knowledge,  I  contemplate  three  phases, 
viz:  Knowledge  of  one's  self,  knowledge  of  other  people,  knowledge 
of  one's  business. 

Leaving  these  three  sub-divisions  of  knowledge  for  a  moment,  I 
would  pass  to  the  four  prime  essentials  for  commercial  manhood. 
These  are  character,  health,  ability,  practical  knowledge. 

If  the  college  gives  us  young  men  crammed  with  practical  knowl- 
edge and  seriously  lacking  in  other  essentials,  or  totally  lacking  in 
some  of  the  important  sub-divisions  of  these  essentials,  they  are  un- 
worthy and  not  wanted. 

In  order  that  the  fullest  force  of  this  statement  may  be  felt,  I  quote 
an  inventorv  sheet  which  I  use  to  take  stock  of  executives  in  our  house : 

1.  Character:  Moralit}',  temperance,  industry,  capacity  for 
w^ork,  ambition,  loyalty,  faith,  obedience,  judgment,  self-control, 
sympathy,  courtesy,  cheerfulness,  patience,  perseverance,  courage, 
enthusiasm,  will  power,  thoroughness,  regularity,  concentration,  tact. 

2.  Health. 

3.  Ability:  Initiative,  organization,  administration,  instruction, 
discipline,  business  economics,  productiveness. 

4.  Knowledge:  A.  Merchandise — Manufacture,  value,  salabil- 
ity,  advertising,  operation  or  use.  B.  People,  correspondence,  house 
svstem,  department  routine,  school  education. 

The  first  essential,  character,  is  a  requirement  so  obvious  that  the 
discussion  of  its  possession  seems  unnecessary ;  but  the  ordinary  under- 
standing of  character  is  narrowed  down  to  a  measure  of  the  man  so 
far  as  his  honesty  and  morality  are  concerned.  These,  however,  are 
onlv  two  of  very  many  view-points. 

In  knowing  one's  self,  one  must  be  fully  aware  of  the  degree  to 
which  one  possesses  all  these  specific  qualities ;  and  in  demanding  that 
a  man  shall  know  himself,  we  presuppose  that  he  will  be  honest  in  his 
study  of  himself,  and  when  he  actually  knows  himself,  he  will  have  a 
correct  measure  of  the  factors  which  make  the  well-balanced  business 
man. 

The  reason  men  fail  in  their  undertakings  is  not  nearly  so  often  to  be 
attributed  to  their  lack  of  knowledge  as  to  a  lack  of  some  of  the  essen- 
tial qualities.  For  instance,  many  men  possess  ambition  to  a  marked 
degree ;  are  persevering  as  much  as  would  be  desired ;  are  filled  with 
courage  and  enthusiasm,  but  are  absolutely  lacking  in  judgment; 
have  never  learned  the  laws  of  obedience,  or  are  positively  lacking  in 
concentration.  These  men  fail,  and  wonder  at  their  failures;  and 
others  wonder  at  the  failure  of  a  man  possessing  many  brilliant  quali- 
ties. 

Figuring  the  qualities  that  make  up  character  as  perfect  at  one 
hundred  per  cent.,  I  would  rather  a  thousand  times  that  our  young 

(270) 


67 

men  should  come  to  us  possessing  every  characteristic  I  have  named, 
and  none  to  a  degree  of  over  fifty  per  cent.,  than  that  they  should  come 
with  many  qualities  at  nearly  one  hunderd  per  cent,  and  totally 
lacking  in  one  or  more  of  the  most  important.  You  can  multiplv 
so>neihiiig — small  as  it  may  be, — but  you  may  multiply  nothing  a 
thousand  times  and  still  have  nothing.  What  can  you  expect  of  a 
man  who  totally  lacks  ambition?  What  will  become  of  a  man  who 
possesses  not  one  iota  of  industry  ?  What  can  a  man  accomplish  who 
has  absolutely  no  concentration  ?  And  I  want  to  say  that  after 
watching  many  failures  and  some  marked  successes,  the  former 
occurred  through  a  great  lacking  in  some  of  the  qualities  of  mind  and 
soul  that  make  character,  and  the  successes  were  directly  traceable 
to  the  possession,  to  a  greater  or  less  degree,  of  all  these  same  qualities. 
And  more,  the  successes  were  greater  or  less  in  proportion  to  the  ap- 
proximation toward  perfection  in  all  the  phases  of  character. 

It  is  the  possession  of  this  knowledge,  the  knowledge  of  self,  that 
the  young  men  of  today  need.  No  other  knowledge  so  fully  portends 
the  possibilities  of  power.  Character  shortcomings  mean  lamentably 
weak  spots  in  that  armor  which  the  commercial  warrior  must  wear  if 
he  would  have  the  slightest  assurance  of  being  a  captain  of  industry. 
It  is  not  enough  that  a  man  should  be  sufficiently  enlightened  to  admit 
the  propriety  of  being  industrious  or  loyal  or  obedient  or  courteous  or 
courageous  or  thorough  or  patient.  It  is  not  enough  that  when  ques- 
tioned as  to  whether  he  should  possess  thoroughness  or  will  power  or 
regular  habits,  he  would  admit  the  wisdom  of  such  possession  He  must 
lay  the  measuring  stick  of  perfection  in  all  soul  and  mind  qualities  along 
the  fabric  of  his  own  character,  and  be  honest  when  he  measures.  If 
there  is  any  time  when  a  man  should  be  cool  and  calculating  in  judg- 
ment, it  must  be  when  he  is  learning  himself.  The  searchlight  of 
truth  must  be  turned  on  the  soul  of  the  man,  and  woe  be  to  him  who 
closes  his  eyes  to  his  own  weakness.  The  business  world  is  full  of 
failures  whose  own  distorted  vision  has  magnified  good  qualities  and 
totally  failed  to  disclose  shortcomings. 

The  Gospel  of  Hard  Work — persistent,  effective  work — must  be 
taught.  One  of  the  most  discouraging  phases  of  the  college  situation 
today  is  that  the  young  men  have  forgotten  or  never  learned  the 
habits  of  industry.  Why  this  is  true  is  not  for  me  to  say.  The  state- 
ment is  not  a  theory,  but  a  fact,  and  is  not  based  on  impressions  of  a 
few  or  the  testimony  of  another,  but  on  a  fairly  close  personal  contact 
with  some  hundred  and  fifty  college  men  who  have  entered  our  insti- 
tution as  the  best  to  be  selected  from  four  times  that  number.  In 
my  opinion,  the  college  attitude  toward  hard  work  has  got  to  change 
very  materially  before  you  will  turn  out  acceptable  candidates  for 
other  than  menial  positions  in  big  business  houses. 

In   the   commercial    world,    work — hard,    intelligent   work — counts, 

(271) 


68 

and  counts  big.  True,  back  of  work  must  be  brains  for  work  to  count 
most  and  be  most  effective ;  but  hard  work  with  little  brain  power 
will  yield  successfully  up  to  the  limit  of  one's  capacity.  On  the  other 
hand,  brains  with  little  work  is  like  scattering  fertilizer  with  no  seed 
sown — the  natural  result  is  little  more  than  a  tremendous  lot  of  weeds. 

I  know  that  the  college  authorities  are  alive  to  the  necessity  of  indus- 
try. I  also  know  that  the  average  college  man  does  not  know  the  prin- 
ciples of  hard  labor.  It  is,  perhaps,  a  hard  thing  to  say,  but  until  some 
of  the  horse-play  and  society  and  cheap  imitations  of  real  athletics  and 
criminal  waste  of  time  are  eliminated  from  the  unwritten  college 
curriculum,  the  college  will  not  send  out  embryo  business  men  who 
will  develop  beyond  the  embryo  stage.  The  time  is  ripe  for  the  brainy 
college  ornament  to  realize  that  the  college  grind  is  attending  strictly 
to  his  business  in  taking  advantage  of  the  opportunity  made  possible 
by  some  one's  hard  earned  dollars.  He  is  attending  to  his  business 
in  preparing  himself  for  the  great  unknown  business  world.  The 
jolly  good  fellow  who  is  only  that  will  find  a  mighty  small  field  for 
the  exercise  of  his  peculiar  talents,  for  the  shell  game  is  passe  and  cir- 
cus barkers  are  in  small  demand  and  only  get  a  six-months'  job  each 
year. 

The  prime  essential  that  business  men  want  young  men  to  know, 
therefore,  is  the  habit  of  industry.  There  is  no  excellence  without 
great  labor,  and  since  knowledge  does  not  consist  alone  in  the  mere 
admission  of  a  moral  truth  but  is  only  real  in  its  practice,  then  industry 
must  be  taught,  not  as  a  precept  that  is  merely  accepted  as  right,  but 
as  a  principle  that  must  become  a  constant  habit. 

I  might  go  on  and  talk  of  the  other  essentials  that  make  a  well- 
rounded  character.  Anyone  will  admit  that  all  of  these  are  perfectly 
proper  acquirements  and  that  their  absence  is  harmful.  The  whole 
truth  lies  in  the  fact  that  college  faculties  allow  voung  men  to  sleep 
through  their  college  course  and  never  waken  to  the  fact  that  Loyalty 
and  Faith  and  Obedience  must  be  cultivated.  Young  men  are  per- 
mitted to  sustain  an  attitude  of  hostility  toward  their  instructors  that 
cannot  fail  to  grow  into  a  serious  detriment  to  them  when  they  go 
into  the  business  world.  They  do  not  learn  the  necessity  for  loyal 
obedience  to  their  superiors,  who  are  really  their  instructors  in  business 
affairs.  While  it  is  true  that  periodical  gradings  serve  to  attach  some 
importance  to  the  college  work,  the  college  does  not  make  it  a  busi- 
ness to  positively  require  perseverance,  thoroughness  and  concentra- 
tion. The  cultivation  of  these  qualities,  therefore,  is  accidental  rather 
than  otherwise. 

When  the  college  man  shall  have  lived  up  to  his  opportunity  in 
acquiring  that  mental  training  which  study  can  give, — when  he  learns 
unquestioning  obedience  to  righteous  autlioritv ;  when  he  makes  it 
his  business  to  cultivate  all  the  mind  and  soul  qualities  that  make  up 

(272) 


69 

character;  then,  and  not  until  then,  will  the  supplementary  education 
in  practical  knowledge  be  worth  while. 

In  following  up  the  study  of  self,  the  second  great  essential  is 
Health.  A  great  many  young  men  have  good  health  accidentally 
and  have  never  given  much  thought  to  the  fact  that  the  healthy  man, 
as  compared  with  the  unhealthy  one,  stands  infinitely  better  show  in 
the  strenuous  business  life.  In  this  day  and  age  of  the  world,  especial- 
ly when  the  seeker  after  business  knowledge  is  a  young  man,  he  is 
expected  to  be  able  to  give  the  best  he  has  in  him  to  the  affairs  in 
which  he  is  engaged.  Regularity  of  habit  is  promoted  by  health,  and 
of  the  very  many  qualities  that  go  to  make  up  character,  regularity  is 
one  of  the  essentials.  He  who  has  not  a  sound  body  cannot  be  sure  of 
so  sound  a  mind  as  perfect  health  would  have  assured.  In  the  battle 
for  commercial  supremacy,  every  man  needs  a  full  battery  of  mentality 
to  bring  to  bear  on  commercial  situations.  Therefore,  the  college 
which  promotes  commercial  education  must,  by  all  means,  teach  to  its 
students  the  care  of  the  health.  It  is  a  poor  recommendation  for  a 
well  balanced,  thoughtful,  capable  young  man  to  come  to  a  business 
institution  dvspeptic  and  ansmic. 

I  am  not  so  interested  in  discussing  at  this  time  the  third  essential, 
wherein  one  should  know  one's  self,  namely,  ability;  except  in  one 
phase,  and  that  is  whether  or  not  the  college  professor  gives  as  full 
attention  as  he  should  to  the  adaptability  of  the  student  to  the  com- 
mercial life.  Has  the  young  man  knowledge  of  his  ability  in  its  com- 
mercial aspect  so  that  he  may  be  sure  that  his  choice  of  labor  is  wise  ? 
Let  me  repeat  my  dissection  of  Ability  as  applied  to  the  commercial 
world:  Initiative,  organization,  administration,  instruction,  disci- 
pline, business  economics,  productiveness. 

We  find  men  coming  to  us  who  have  never  learned  the  value  of  a 
dollar.  How  can  they  understand  business  economics?  How  can 
the  qualities  of  ability,  initiative,  organization  and  administration 
come  to  him  who  shows  none  of  them  in  student  life?  What 
amount  of  productiveness  can  you  expect  from  a  young  man  in  busi- 
ness whose  college  life  was  one  of  lazy  indifference  ? 

What  the  business  men  want  is  well  cultivated  land.  Plow  it  deep 
and  turn  up  the  soil  of  personal  responsibility.  Level  it  with  the 
harrow  of  unceasing  toil.  Fertilize  it  with  the  richness  of  loyalty  and 
obedience,  judgment  and  thoroughness.  Plant  it  with  the  first  seeds 
of  practical  knowledge  and  the  keen,  broad  business  world  will  culti- 
vate and  nurture  such  a  crop  of  commercial  giants  as  the  world  has 
never  yet  seen. 

Hex.   W.   B.   McKlNLEY 

As  an  active  business  man  I  cannot  fail  to  express  my  appreciation 
of  the  papers  given  this  evening  by  business  men,  and  especially  the 

(273) 


70 

emphasis  given  to  character.  I  cannot  help  thinking  there  is  an 
opinion  among  young  men  that  those  who  have  that  quaHty  of  mind 
they  call  "smartness"  will  succeed,  but  I  do  not  think  they  will.  I 
think  that  industry  combined  with  honesty  will  win  and  that  "smart- 
ness" will  not. 


THE  ETHICS  OF  BUSINESS 

Right  Reverend  Edward  William  Osborne,  D.D. 
Bishop  Coadjutor  of  Springfield,  Illinois 

Honor  all  Men!  Love  the  Brotherhood!  Great  words  are  these, 
lying  at  the  very  root  of  social  life,  being  a  keynote  for  all  relations  of 
man  with  his  fellows.  We  may  take  them  as  the  fine  keynote  of 
Business  ethics.  For  what  do  we  mean  by  the  word?  Ethics  is 
defined  as  the  science  of  human  duty,  the  science  of  right  character 
and  conduct. 

Ethics  teaches  us  of  the  nature  of  moral  agents,  fostering  intelli- 
gence, free  will,  and  conscience.  It  bears  also  upon  virtue,  upon 
right  in  conduct,  action  and  aims. 

It  is  not  possible  to  conceive  of  moral  life  without  honor;  nor  can 
there  be  any  idea  of  obligation  that  is  centered  in  self  or  antagonism ; 
it  must  carry  with  it  fellowship,  love.  Any  other  thought  of  obliga- 
tion might  only  lead  us  back  to  barbarism.  Ethics  thus  governing  all 
the  relations  of  man  to  man  has  as  its  foundation,  "Honor  all  men! 
Love  the  Brotherhood!" 

But  business  does  not  lie  outside  the  realm  of  ethics.  For  what  is 
business  ?  Shall  we  be  wrong  if  we  define  it  as  a  form  of  social  service 
in  which  man  serves  his  fellow  man  and  in  doing  so  receives  some  gain 
or  profit  to  himself?  He  supplies  the  needs  of  others  and  is  in  turn 
supplied  himself.  We  must  never  lose  sight  of  the  mutual  character 
of  every  business  action,  no  matter  what  may  be  the  detail  of  the 
trade  or  industry. 

Let  us  think  a  little  farther  on  this.  What  is  the  real  underlying 
idea  of  every  kind  of  business  or  trade?  Is  it  not  the  supply  of  the 
wants  of  the  community?  Incidentally  the  supplier  receives  a  profit, 
but  business  was  not  and  is  not  established  and  carried  on  for  this. 
Were  there  no  wants  to  be  supplied  there  could  be  no  business  as  we 
understand  the  term;  the  measure  of  the  wants  is  the  measure  of  the 
prosperity  of  him  who  supplies  them,  or  what  we  call  profitable  busi- 
ness. The  supplier  is  therefore  the  servant  of  the  public  whose  wants 
he  ministers  to.  There  is  no  discounting  in  saying  this.  For  if  he  be 
willing  to  serve  he  also  lays  under  obligation  those  who  are  served  by 
him.  If,  however,  courtesy  and  civility  are  required  on  the  part  of 
the  seller,  they  are  equally  to  be  looked  for  in  the  buyer;  the  obligation 
is  a  mutual  one. 

(274) 


71 

This  aspect  of  business  as  a  form  of  social  service  seems  to  be  in 
some  degree  recognized  in  the  restraints  put  upon  it  and  also  by  the 
privileges  accorded  to  it.  In  some  countries  no  man  can  transact 
anv  business  without  a  license  from  his  fellows  through  the  constituted 
authoritv.  While  we  have  no  such  strict  rule  in  this  state,  yet  the 
number  of  businesses  for  which  a  license  is  required  is  very  great. 
This  social  service  is  under  many  restrictions. 

Or  think  of  the  privileges.  The  railroads  for  instance.  The  grants 
of  land  and  subsidies  allowed  them,  the  power  of  taking  land  necessary 
for  the  roads  without  the  consent  of  the  owner  who  would  rather 
retain  the  land  than  receive  compensation.  What  do  these  things 
indicate  ?  Surelv  that  the  directors  and  corporations  of  the  railroads 
are  carrying  on  a  great  public  service.  These  privileges  are  most 
certainlv  not  granted  solely  that  certain  persons  may  obtain  profit  to 
themselves  by  transporting  the  people  hither  and  thither.  It  is  a 
public  service. 

The  business  man,  therefore,  of  whatever  grade,  stands  before  us 
as  a  public  servant,  bearing,  by  reason  of  that  character,  a  responsi- 
bility to  the  public,  and,  may  we  say  it  here,  to  the  Supreme  Being  to 
whom  both  the  business  man  and  the  public  belong. 

Business  ethics  must  then  stand  for  the  science  of  human  duty,  of 
right  conduct  in  actions  and  in  aims,  reaching  out  after  the  supreme 
good,  exemplified  in  that  form  of  social  service  which  consists  in  the 
lawful  interchange  of  that  which  either  possesses,  in  such  way  that 
both  are  mutually  benefited. 

As  we  say  this  it  may  be  that  we  almost  hear  a  voice  that  seems  to 
whisper,  "Honor  all  Men!  Love  the  Brotherhood!"  While  this  is 
true  and  honor  and  love  should  be  the  governing  forces  in  business 
transactions,  so  that  the  divine  idea  of  social  help  may  be  developed 
and  seen,  it  is  equally  true  that  it  is  too  little  realized.  It  is  realized 
to  some  extent,  perhaps  mostly  in  small  matters,  which  have  an  as- 
pect of  individual  dealing  of  one  with  another.  Our  hearts  fill  up 
with  indignation  at  the  absence  of  honor  and  love  in  some  act  of  petty 
tyranny. 

Who  is  not  indignant  at  such  tales  as  these?  A  woman's  husband 
is  killed  on  the  railway.  The  widow  desires  to  earn  her  living  by  keep- 
ing an  eating  house  for  the  section  men  at  a  certain  junction.  At  the 
end  of  a  year  she  is  alive  and  that  is  all:  she  is  in  utter  poverty.  She 
might  have  been  well  off,  but  the  foreman  makes  it  a  condition  of  her 
having  the  custom  of  the  men  that  she  shall  buy  all  of  him,  he  doub- 
ling the  price  of  everything  for  his  own  profit.  A  girl  in  a  candy  store 
knows  that  the  scales  ai'e  false  and  every  customer  is  cheated  by  her 
hand.  She  remonstrates  only  to  call  forth  abuse  and  threats.  She 
must  either  violate  her  conscience  daily  or  go  and  seek  other  work 
which,  for  such  as  she,  would  be  hard  to  get. 

(275) 


72 

How  do  we  feel  with  regard  to  a  man  who,  keeping  a  small  bakery, 
makes  his  help  come  at  seven  on  Sundays  as  on  weekdays,  though  no 
Sunday  customer  has  ever  been  known  before  eight;  who  keeps  the 
same  help  until  eleven  o'clock,  when  he  pays  their  weekly  wage, 
refusing  to  give  it  on  any  other  day  or  at  any  other  time,  "Sunday  on 
time  or  none  at  all, "  and  does  it  with  the  avowed  intention  of  keeping 
them  from  Sunday  morning  rest  and  worship. 

Have  we  forgotten  the  cry  of  indignation  that  went  up  from  the 
poor  throughout  the  land  when  in  the  midst  of  a  great  coal  strike  a 
mighty  corporation  raised  the  price  of  oil  a  cent  a  gallon  without  any 
other  motive  than  greed? 

On  the  other  hand  there  is  a  feeling  of  admiration  for  the  woman 
who,  having  been  dishonest  with  her  scales  in  her  little  country  store 
repents  herself  and  turning  the  scales  around  gives  extra  weight  to 
every  customer  during  as  long  a  period  as  she  had  been  fraudulent. 
Or  that  other  woman,  who  having  bought  her  stock  of  coal  for  a  coun- 
try business  when  prices  were  low  refused  to  raise  her  own  price  when 
the  strike  came.  She  sold  as  long  as  her  stock  lasted  to  her  poorer 
neighbors  for  no  more  than  she  charged  before  the  strike  began. 

Things  such  as  these  make  us  note  failure  and  make  us  fully  con- 
scious that  in  transactions  between  man  and  man  the  law  ought  to 
to  be  as  this  one,  "Honor  all  Men!  Love  the  Brotherhood!"  In 
other  words,  "Love  th}-  neighbor  as  thyself." 

There  are  few,  if  any,  who  would  deny  this  in  such  matters  as  we 
have  noted,  but  when  it  comes  to  larger  matters,  when  the  business 
seems  not  of  individuals  dealing  directly  with  one  another,  but  of 
corporations,  societies,  syndicates,  then  questions  are  at  once  raised. 
Is  the  same  law  to  hold  good  here?  Are  the  same  foundations  to  be 
looked  for  in  corporations  that  you  demand  in  individual  character? 
Are  the  same  ethical  laws  to  prevail?  Are  there  to  be  the  same 
standards  of  life  and  business  in  corporation  dealings  as  in  a  country 
store  where  honest  people  deal  as  much  for  the  pleasure  of  it  as  for  the 
supply  of  their  needs?  And  the  answer,  we  are  told,  is  no.  We  are 
told  it  sometimes  in  words,  angrily  as  if  we  were  wrong  in  suggesting 
such  a  thing ;  sometimes  with  contempt  as  if  we  were  fools  not  to  know 
that  it  would  not  be  possible  for  men  to  live  and  partake  of  the  life  of 
the  corporations  if  they  were  required  to  maintain  these  standards. 
The  responsibility  is  altogether  different.  The  very  largeness  of  the 
transactions  makes  a  difference.  Corporate  acts  are  on  a  different 
plane.  Corporations  as  such  have  no  conscience,  no  souls,  and 
nothing  more  is  to  be  asked  of  the  individuals  composing  the  corpora- 
tion than  can  be  asked  of  the  corporation  itself.  The  individuals 
sink  their  individuality  in  the  corporation,  they  are  bound  by  the  acts 
of  others,  they  have  not  freedom  of  action  and  therefore  they  have  no 
responsibility.      It  may  be  doubted  if  this  view  is  really  sincerely  held, 

(276) 


73 

but  it  is  undoubtedly  acted  upon.  And  with  what  result?  "Com- 
merce and  manufactures  have  pressed  on  their  way  with  very  small 
thought  of  the  individual,  have  seemed  dead  to  all  sight  and  feeling, 
and  modern  industrial  conditions  have  conspired  to  destroy  all  man- 
hood and  even  efface  individuality."  Such  books  as  Wyckoff's 
"The  Workers."  afford  startUng  illustrations  of  this.  Slavery  has 
passed  but  slavery  still  continues,  and  the  very  methods  of  labor  are 
such  as  to  make  a  man  a  slave  to  a  machine  even  if  not  to  a  hard 
task-master. 

In  vears  gone  bv  One  said  by  the  voice  of  a  prophet,  "  I  w^ill  make 
a  man  more  precious  than  the  gold  of  Ophir. "  In  the  days  of  the 
Gospel  when  we  might  surely  look  for  the  fulfilment  we  find  the  proph- 
ecy forgotten,  denied.  Rather  we  find  that  modern  civiHzation  and 
business  seem  at  times  near  to  receiving  the  curse  of  Babylon  and  for 
the  same  reason.  Note  the  summing  up  of  the  charge  against  her: 
"The  merchandise  of  gold  and  silver  and  precious  stones,  and  of  pearls 
and  fine  linen  and  purple  and  silk  and  scarlet,  vessels  of  most  precious 
woods,  and  of  brass  and  iron  and  marble,  of  cinnamon  and  odorus,  of 
fine  flour  and  wheat,  and  beasts  and  horses  and  chariots  and  slaves, 
and  souls  of  Men. "  Her  merchants  were  the  great  ones  of  the  earth. 
Her  judgment  came.     She  has  passed  forever. 

Notice  the  result  of  the  conditions  of  which  we  have  spoken: 
trade  unions,  strikes,  violence,  arising  largely  from  want  of  considera- 
tion of  the  individual ;  the  general  attitude  of  hatred  towards  capital 
on  the  part  of  labor  on  the  one  side ;  on  the  other  the  revelation  of  the 
corruption  and  dishonestv  of  the  members  of  the  corporations,  them- 
selves, names  that  w^ere  high  in  the  w^orld.  in  business,  even  in  the 
church,  being  levelled  to  the  dirt  until  the  world  is  asking,  "Who 
will  be  the  next  ? ' ' 

In  the  whole  world  of  business  there  seeriis  to  be  a  confusion  and 
perplexity  as  to  the  possibility  of  the  application  of  moral  principles 
to  the  conduct  of  any  kind  of  business.  Men  cannot  live  apart  from 
business.  Is  it  possible  to  keep  morality  in  business  and  not  destroy 
your  chances  of  success?  The  whole  commercial  atmosphere  is 
tainted.  Honor,  love,  brotherhood,  manhood  itself,  all  seem  passing 
away.  Must  these  things  be  so?  Must  we  accept  such  a  state  of 
things  as  being  hopelessly  beyond  remedy?  Possibly  if  it  were  uni- 
versal we  should  be  compelled  to  do  so.  But  it  is  not  universal. 
There  are  men,  and  corporations  also,  and  men  within  corporations, 
who  have  neither  laid  aside  nor  forgotten  the  higher  standard  of 
business  life.  Permit  an  incident  of  personal  experience :  Some  years 
ago,  preaching  in  one  of  the  great  churches  of  London,  England,  I  took 
occasion  to  speak  of  the  responsibility  of  men  for  others'  sins,  for 
spreading  temptation  and  moral  infection.  Among  other  matters  I 
spoke  of  the  great  circulating  libraries  of  England  and  that  they  must 

(277) 


74 

be  held  responsible  for  the  books  they  put  in  the  hands  of  the  people, 
and  that  the  responsibility  rested  on  the  members  of  the  firms  or 
companies.  After  service  a  gentleman  much  agitated  wished  to  speak 
to  me.  He  was  a  partner  in  one  of  the  largest  firms  in  England  carry- 
ing on  both  the  publishing  and  library  business.  My  words  had 
touched  him  in  certain  matters  where  his  conscience  had  refused  to  be 
still.  We  talked  long  and  the  next  day  I  received  an  invitation  to 
lunch  with  the  members  of  the  firm.  The  four  high-minded  and 
honorable  men  I  met  were  most  courteous  and  withal  almost  patheti- 
cally eager  that  I  should  know  what  their  standards  were.  It  was  to 
me  almost  a  revelation  to  learn  the  care  with  which  they  endeavored 
to  keep  their  shelves  clean  from  evil  books  and  the  methods  they 
adopted.  For  instance,  for  society  to  know  that  they  had  rejected  a 
book  would  be  at  once  to  advertise  it  and  increase  its  sale.  It  was 
better  to  put  perhaps  half  a  dozen  on  the  shelves  instead  of  a  hundred 
or  more.  They  could  then  truthfully  say  the  books  were  always 
out,  and  so  the  circulation  was  practically  destroyed  without  attract- 
ing attention.  Many  books,  periodicals  and  papers  they  did 
entirely  refuse  to  handle,  and  so  in  a  difficult  business  recognized 
responsibility  and  kept  their  consciences  clear.  And  there  are 
many  su(?h  in  every  line  of  business.  It  is  not  every  man  who  is 
ruled  by  gold,  or  holds  himself  bound  by  the  maxims  of  others  whose 
consciences  have,  alas,  been  drugged. 

It  follows  surely  that  if  some  can  maintain  the  highest  standards 
of  business  ethics  we  can  ask,  we  have  a  right  to  ask  it  of  all.  Why 
should  it  be  a  matter  of  surprise  if  we  find  men  high-minded  and  up- 
holding their  own  life  and  business  principles?  It  ought  not  to  be. 
How,  then,  shall  we  make  the  demand  for  a  return  of  the  first  prin- 
ciples of  honor  and  love?  There  are  those  who  trust  in  the  law  and 
the  number  of  these  seems  increasing.  Perhaps  no  laws  have  of 
recent  years  been  so  numerous  as  those  relating  to  morality  and 
honesty.  Laws  on  the  ballot  or  public  officials,  protection  from 
corporations,  or  from  the  exactions  and  neglects  of  employees,  on 
disputes  between  capital  and  labor,  on  protection  for  trusts  and 
charities,  and  such  like  have  multiplied.  While  on  the  one  hand  these 
laws  and  the  necessity  for  them  shows  a  terrible  corruption,  on  the 
other  the  demand  for  them  shows  a  growing  sense  of  public  morality, 
a  demand  for  an  ethical  standard.  But  we  must  not  expect  too  much 
from  the  law.  The  state  itself  is  made  up  of  individuals.  The  best 
laws  have  to  be  administered  by  individuals,  and  many  an  almost 
perfect  law  has  been  utterly  defeated  in  its  action  by  a  corrupt  officer. 
It  has  also  been  well  said,  "The  law  should  never  be  allowed  to  stand 
for  the  maximum  of  a  man's  moral  obligations  toward  himself  or 
toward  his  fellowmen."  (Sir  Edward  Fry.)  The  penal  code  should 
not  take  the  place  of  the  moral  law. 

(278) 


75 

There  is  a  better  way.  The  state  has  its  responsibilities  to  dis- 
charge and  it  does  this  by  the  making  of  laws.  But  the  appeal  is  not 
to  the  law  alone.  It  is  to  the  highest  and  best  that  is  in  each  individ- 
ual man.  Wherever  corporate  action  touches  the  li\-es,  the  health, 
and  the  mental  or  money  loss  or  gain  of  men  and  women  every  indi- 
vidual member  of  the  corporation  must  be  brought  to  feel  that  he  is 
a  steward,  a  servant,  accountable  to  men,  and  behind  that  accountable 
to  Divine  Law,  or  to  God.  We  must  reach  the  individual  and  show 
him  that  on  him  all  depends.  His  courage  and  his  example  are  to 
tell.  It  is  for  him  to  reach  out  after  self  restraint,  restraint  of 
avarice,  restraint  of  the  desire  of  power.  The  personality  of 
each  must  be  addressed,  must  be  brought  out.  Ever}^  man 
must  be  led  to  see  that  he  cannot  sink  his  own  personality  in  a 
corporation  in  any  way  such  as  to  lose  his  responsibility.  Every 
one  of  his  words  and  acts  wherever  said  or  done  bears  the  stamp  of 
his  own  personality,  and  cannot  be  outdone  or  denied.  We  need  to 
bring  into  the  soul  of  every  man  in  business  on  a  scale  large  or  small 
the  spirit  of  Brutus — 

"I  had  rather  coin  my  heart,  and  drop  my  blood  for  drachmas, 
than  to  wring 

From  the  hard  hand  of  peasants  their  vile  trash 

By  any  indirection.  " 

This  is  the  task  set  before  those,  who  taking  up  the  study  of 
business  ethics,  desire  to  lift  up  a  true  standard.  It  is  nothing  less 
than  to  lead  men  to  accept  as  their  rule,  the  Golden  Rule,  the  watch- 
word, "Honor  all  Men!  Love  the  Brotherhood!"  Herein  comes  the 
place  of  education.  Von  Humboldt  has  said:  "Whatever  we  wish  to 
introduce  into  the  life  of  the  nation  must  first  be  introduced  into  the 
schools.  "  The  universities  set  the  ideals  for  schools,  let  us  begin  there. 
There  is  the  field  in  which  to  teach  the  principles  and  to  train  in  prac- 
tice; a  training  place  for  a  complete  manhood.  There  is  great  need 
of  teaching.  It  is  the  duty  of  men  to  know  and  to  understand  the 
questions  at  issue.  They  are  not  easy  to  understand  nor  are  they 
capable  of  ready  and  simple  answer.  They  must  be  studied  and  dis- 
entangled with  far  more  care  than  the  finest  skein  of  tangled  silk. 
They  cannot  be  treated  as  some  coarse  cord,  a  push  here  and  a  pull 
there  and  the  knot  is  gone.  The  higher  education.  Is  it  not  the 
highest  to  learn  the  questions  that  separate  men  and  bring  injustice, 
dishonor,  sorrow;  to  learn  to  bring  men  together;  to  learn  so  as  to  be 
able  to  teach  and  set  forth  the  highest  standard  of  human  duty,  and  to 
encourage  those  striving  to  attain  them? 

Has  not  the  Church  a  place  here?  Is  it  not  for  her  to  penetrate 
civil  life  with  the  Divine  Spirit,  to  transform  the  worldly  by  bringing 
near  the  Divine,  to  regenerate  human  character  by  the  light  of  God 
and  to  restore  the  whole  social  fabric  by  bringing  in,  as  it  were,  a  new 

(279) 


76 

soul?  The  University  and  the  Church  must  go  hand  in  hand  in  the 
work  of  this  higher  education. 

It  has  been  well  said  that  capital  and  labor  need  a  third  word  and 
that  is  "management."  Both  are  dependent  on  management,  and 
management  is  business.  Good  management  is  good  business.  But 
what  do  we  mean  by  good  management?  Hard  work,  clever  plans, 
stirring  men  to  the  greatest  amount  of  work,  keeping  our  expenses  to 
the  lowest.  Does  this  differ  much  from  slave  driving?  It  would  cut 
out  the  moral  element.  The  result  would  be  dollars,  but  neither 
honor  or  love.  Good  business,  good  management,  is  something  else 
than  this. 

Management  is  Brain,  neither  money  nor  physical  labor.  It  is 
brain  that  uses,  combines,  manages  both.  Our  work  is  to  train  the 
brain,  to  send  out  men  whose  brains  shall  be  trained  and  moved  not 
by  money,  not  by  expediency,  but  by  moral  force,  and  directed  by 
conscience,  by  the  science  of  human  duty  illuminated  by  the  Divine 
Spirit.  This  is  the  standard  set  forth  in  the  life  of  Jesus  Christ,  the 
Incarnate  God,  the  workman  of  Nazareth.  This  life  would  bring  good 
business  indeed. 

Are  these  things  possible?  Is  there  any  hope?  Turn  for  a  mo- 
ment to  other  spheres  of  life  and  action.  A  judge  of  the  supreme 
court  of  the  United  States  has  recently  said  that  during  thirty-six 
years  on  the  bench  no  one  directly  or  indirectlv,  bv  word  or  letter,  or 
in  any  other  way  ever  proposed,  suggested  or  intimated  that  any 
decision  he  might  be  called  on  to  make  would  be  for  his  benefit  pecuni- 
arily, politically,  socially  or  otherwise.  May  we  not  learn  from  this 
something  of  the  esteem  in  which  his  own  character  was  held?  Recall 
the  elections  of  President  Roosevelt,  and  of  Governor  Folk  in  our 
neighboring  state  of  Missouri,  and  see  if  it  is  not  true  that  in  spite  ot 
the  tremendous  evils  around  there  is  a  growing  sensitiveness  to  con- 
siderations of  honesty  and  honor.  Did  not  the  heart  of  the  nation 
respond  to  the  words  of  our  late  Secretary  of  State  when  he  said, 
"The  application  of  the  Golden  Rule  should  be  the  essence  of  American 
diplomacy  in  its  dealings  with  other  nations?" 

There  is  hope,  but  be  it  ever  remembered  that  all  depends  upon  the 
individuals  of  whom  the  State  is  composed,  and  especially  upon  those 
individuals  entrusted  with  political  power.  For  this  the  State  needs' 
her  best  sons  to  serve  with  intelligence  and  self-sacrifice.  She  looks 
to  her  universities  to  supply  them.  Men  who,  bringing  business 
ethics  to  bear  on  all  their  relations  with  their  fellowmen,  will  show 
the  result  of  individual  work  in  an  elevated  State.  They  are  to  come 
from  our  colleges  and  universities  for  here  there  is  not  only  teaching 
of  principles,  but  also  the  opportunity  of  application  of  principles  to 
life.  Here  it  is  possible  in  practical  ways  to  reach  out  after  and  in  a 
measure  attain  the  highest  possible  standards,  from  the  intercourse 

(2S0) 


77 

with  fellow  students,  from  the  daily  contact  with  the  faculty  and  the 
relation  that  springs  from  it,  from  the  business  relations  to  members 
of  the  fraternity,  from  the  responsibilities  of  the  fraternity  house, 
from  perfect  honesty  in  dealing  with  lodging-house  keepers,  stores 
and  shops,  from  absolute  faithfulness  in  study,  and  from  perfect 
honesty  in  matters  belonging  to  examinations.  For  the  development 
of  a  law-abiding  consciousness,  what  opportunities  all  these  give  for 
the  practice  of  business  ethics,  of  exemplifying  the  Science  of  human 
dutv.  It  is  for  the  University  to  teach  and  according  to  its  oppor- 
tunity enforce,  and  for  the  student  to  adopt  this  life.  The  student 
has  then  bv  self-control,  by  self-sacritice,  with  patience  and  Divine 
help,  the  highest  standards  of  the  student's  nature. 

The  student  who  has  been  so  taught  and  has  so  lived  goes  out  a  man 
prepared  to  face  evil.  He  will  not  be  so  shocked  by  it  as  to  become 
incapable  of  action.  He  will  not  be  overthrown,  nor  lose  his  faith  in 
all  men,  nor  in  God;  but  he  will  be  ready,  armed  w4th  knowledge  and 
with  argument,  but  still  more  with  his  own  personal  character,  to 
meet  the  shock  and  maintain  his  life  with  a  conscience  blameless  in 
the  sight  of  God  and  man. 

He  will  be  able  to  take  his  place  in  social  life,  in  business,  it  may  be 
in  politics.  He  will  be  able  to  work  about  by  himself  in  mine  or  on 
mountain  top  with  theodolite  and  measuring  chain,  or  to  take  his 
place  in  great  corporations  and  sit  at  the  board  of  directors.  Wher- 
ever he  is  he  will  be  a  power  for  righteousness,  his  word  will  be  re- 
ceived, dishonor  will  shrink  before  him,  and  men  shall  recognize  him 
as  they  once  did  Daniel,  as  "a  man  in  whom  was  the  spirit  of  the  holy 
gods, "  a  man  who  can  be  neither  bought  nor  frightened.  In  his  time 
and  by  his  relations  with  men  the  State  shall  be  lifted  up  and  the 
result  will  remain.  It  will  not  make  his  quiet  happiness  and  joy  less 
if  he  remembers  that  he  followed  the  principle,  "Honor  all  Men! 
Love  the  Brotherhood!"  in  the  class  rooms  and  applied  them  in  his 
social  life,  in  the  Universitv  of  the  State  of  Illinois. 


(281) 


78 


KOURXH    SESSION 


COMMERCIAL    MUSEUMS    IN    RELATION    TO    UNIVERSITY 

COURSES 

Professor  William  Patterson 

University  of  Iowa 

"If  you  wish  to  succeed  in  the  commercial  world  do  not  go  to 
college,  but  plunge  at  one  into  business,"  is  the  sum  total  of  recent 
advice  given  young  men  by  a  noted  business  man.  This  gentleman 
who  contributes  so  largely  of  his  abundant  means  for  the  welfare  of 
his  fellowmen  should  not  be  dismissed  without  consideration.  The 
statement  that  he  is  mistaken  or  is  an  old  fogy  may  suit  the  impulse 
of  the  moment,  but  is  not  an  answer.  Moreover,  Mr.  Carnegie  is  not 
alone  in  his  conviction.  He  represents  a  type  of  stern  business  men 
who  today  are  prominent  in  the  industrial  affairs  of  the  country. 
Such  men  have  no  ax  to  grind.  The  schools  are  in  no  way  their  com- 
petitors. The  college  or  university  to  them  is  a  business  proposition. 
It  is  a  manufacturing  establishment  that  offers  to  them  its  product 
and  asserts  that  its  use  will  advance  their  output  and  increase  their 
profits  Moreover,  to  continue  the  figure,  after  a  fair  test  has  been 
made  the  reply  is  not  only  a  refusal  but  carries  with  it  the  statement 
that  even  the  material  is  rendered  less  capable  by  its  efforts. 

When  we  consider  that  the  majority  of  the  college  students  must 
not  alone  live  in  the  business  world  but  make  a  living  in  it,  the  criti- 
cism, if  true,  becomes  a  most  serious  charge.  Personally  I  am  inclined 
to  believe  that  Mr.  Carnegie  is  in  a  large  measure  justified  in  his 
contention.  His  college  or  university  is  of  an  earlier  period.  Culture 
was  then  the  end  in  view  and  discipline  the  most  important  by- 
product. Education  was  for  education's  sake.  It  bore  the  same 
relation  to  the  problem  of  daily  bread  that  east  does  to  the  west — • 
comes  up  to  but  never  overlapped.  It  is  perhaps  unnecessary  to 
discuss  here  the  business  value  of  earlier  college  courses.  That  they 
were  of  value  is  beyond  question ;  that  they  are  still  worth  the  taking 
is  also  true.  The  fact  of  a  conference  upon  commercial  education, 
however,  indicates  a  belief  that  they  might  have  been  more  valuable. 

But  what  of  the  present  university?  Even  if  it  be  considered,  I 
am  not  surprised  at  the  gentleman's  criticism.  The  young  man  of 
today  mav  spend  four  years  in  a  university  and  come  out  as  ignorant 
of  the  conditions  he  is  to  meet  in  business  tomorrow  as  the  sweet  girl 
graduate.  Neither  is  it  necessary  for  this  to  be  the  case  for  him  to 
pursue  classical  courses  to  the  exclusion  of  all  else.  Grant  him  work 
in   political   economy,   finance,   banking,   sociology;   aye,   commercial 

(282) 


79 

geography,  commerce  and  statistics.  Courses  such  as  these  is  the  reply 
of  the  uniyersity  of  today  to  the  business  man's  criticism.  The  ques- 
tion is.  are  they  adequate? 

DiscipHne  obtained  by  a  study  of  the  classics  is  good.  The  same 
obtained  through  reasoning  upon  economic  topics  is  better.  The 
study  of  the  economic  man  is  without  doubt  worthy  the  time  and 
money  of  the  student.  Marginal  utility  may  be  a  determining  factor, 
but  the  best  of  us  will  haye  difficulty  in  applying  it  to  the  eyeryday 
bargain  and  sale.  Whether  the  end  of  labor  is  to  ayoid  pain  or  obtain 
pleasure  is  a  peaceable  topic  for  an  eyening's  discussion,  but  the  man 
who  is  to  stand  at  the  world's  cross-roads  and  leyy  toll  needs  some- 
thing more  and  needs  it  more  than  he  needs  the  other.  First  of  all 
he  needs  an  intimate  knowledge  of  the  objects  of  barter,  their  source 
and  quality.  All  this  theory  is  the  last  thing  needed  in  the  business 
world.  Only  in  imagination  is  he  a  captain  of  industry  when  he  gets 
his  diploma.  His  first  years  haye  to  do  with  business  at  the  bottom. 
Checks,  receipts,  notes,  bills,  drafts,  raw  products,  adulterants,  by- 
products, etc.,  are  his  portion  for  a  time  and  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten 
that  time  is  until  death. 

The  work  of  the  uniyersity  for  its  liberal  arts  students  should  be 
to  do  for  them  w^hat  schools  of  engineering,  dentistry,  medicine  and 
law  do  for  their  matriculants;  fit  them  for  the  work  they  expect  to 
undertake.  Theory  is  all  right,  but  it  is  not  enough.  The  engineer 
spends  time  upon  theory,  but  the  actual  work  is  dominant.  The 
dentist  sorts  out  the  yarious  tissues  of  the  foot  that  he  may  the  better 
pull  a  tooth,  but  a  large  part  of  his  time  is  spent  at  the  chair.  That 
worthy  character  of  Dickens'  who  w'as  accustomed  to  impress  the 
significance  of  a  word  upon  his  pupils  by  haying  them  perform  certain 
manual  labor,  as  washing  windows,  was  not  so  far  wrong. 

The  field  of  the  college  and  the  uniyersity  on  the  liberal  arts  side 
is  the  great  business  world  outside  of  the  professions.  Of  this,  the 
pupils  as  they  come  from  the  public  schools  know  practically  nothing. 
The  real  business  world  is  associated  with  "papa  at  the  store,"  but 
w^hat  rules  goyern  or  how  it  all  acts  is  an  abstraction.  Their  ignorance 
relatiye  to  the  common  things  about  them  is  monumental.  The  corn, 
the  wheat  and  the  oats  are  products,  but  where  they  come  from,  what 
is  made  of  them  is  w^holly  unknown.  To  state  that  maple  sugar, 
strawberry  jam  and  strained  honey  are  yery  largely  products  of  corn 
would  brand  the  informant  as  an  ignoramus.  That  starch,  or  sugar, 
or  oil  could  come  from  such  a  source  is  little  less  credulous.  The 
angora  goat  to  them  is  a  scayenger  and  has  no  relation  to  the  plush 
that  covers  the  seats  of  our  railway  coaches  or  the  dress  their  best 
girl  wears  to  the  party.  Mercerized  cotton  may  be  either  silk  or  bril- 
liantine  and  they  are  not  the  wiser.  In  short,  the  elementary  facts  of 
production  are  not  theirs.     In  this  condition  they  get  economic  man 

(283) 


80 

and  marginal  utility  for  a  diet  and  the  theory  of  social  forces  for 
dessert  for  four  years  and  then  enter  the  office  of  a  business  man.  Is 
it  strange  that  he  describes  the  fellow  with  the  diploma  as  a  fool  and 
expresses  it  with  a  dash  before  it?  This  busy  business  man  is  forced 
to  explain  things  that  are  as  elementary  to  him  as  life  and  breath,  and 
he  is  naturally  disgusted  with  wiiat  he  has  received  as  a  finished 
product  that  is  not  at  all  and  frequently  has  on  an  outside  veneer  that 
is  extremely  difficult  to  penetrate. 

The  relation  of  a  commercial  museum  to  the  university  courses 
grows  out  of  this  condition.  It  is  one  of  the  chief  means  by  which  the 
student  may  be  introduced  to  business  forms  and  given  an  idea  of  the 
products  of  several  countries,  their  production  and  manufacture. 
Here  mav  be  gathered  together  the  several  kinds  of  checks,  bills, 
notes,  bonds,  mortgages;  in  short,  specimens  of  all  forms  of  commercial 
paper,  and  these  forms  endorsed,  stamped,  checked  and  mutilated  as 
returned  after  their  course  in  acutal  business.  With  these  in  hand, 
courses  in  banking,  corporation,  finance  and  accounting  may  be 
brought  down  to  earth.  The  student  will  receive  intimation  of  some 
of  the  methods,  short-cuts,  and,  may  I  say,  tricks  of  business.  Tax 
receipts,  assessor's  books,  railway,  telegraph  and  telephone  reports  to 
the  taxing  body,  will  make  clear  many  points  in  the  method  of  taxing 
that  a  mere  description,  no  matter  how  lucid,  would  leave  in  an  uncer- 
tain state.  Samples  of  bills  of  lading,  rate  schedules,  reports  of  super- 
intendents, conductors,  section  bosses  and  other  railway  officials, 
will  do  much  to  put  the  subject  of  transportation  on  an  everyday 
basis.     The  theorv  of  rates  will  work  out  in  practice,  or  rather,  it  wont. 

In  commercial  geograph}^  we  are  told  that  outside  of  the  great 
corn  area  of  the  United  States,  corn  is  raised  in  Egypt,  New  South 
Wales  and  Mexico.  If  now  samples  of  this  product  from  each  of  the 
named  countries  are  at  hand,  it  may  at  once  appear  that  the  corn  of 
Mexico  is  an  entirely  dififerent  product  from  that  of  the  other  countries. 
Place  Egyptian  cotton  beside  the  Sea  Island  or  upland  products  of 
the  United  States  and  the  student  will  understand  why  one  sells  for 
ten  cents  more  than  the  other.  In  like  manner  the  relative  merits  of 
products  produced  in  different  parts  of  the  world  may  be  compared 
in  fact  instead  of  by  description.  State  to  a  class  that  the  chief 
products  of  Ceylon  are  spices,  oils,  and  graphite,  and  the  statement 
could  almost  be  repeated  for  Venezuela.  But  show  the  products  of 
the  two  countries  and  the  excellence  of  the  spice  and  the  graphite  of 
Ceylon  is  at  once  apparent  and  the  medicinal  side  of  Venezuela's 
production  is  seen. 

Take  for  consideration  the  subject  of  cotton.  There  is  an  added 
interest  created  when  the  webbing  from  the  stock  is  shown,  the  vari- 
ous classes  of  cotton  goods,  not  commented  upon  alone  but  given  the 
student  for  examination.     Again,  it  is  known  that  products  are  now 

(284) 


81 

important  because  of  their  by-products.  He  is  a  wise  man  who  can 
tell  the  ancestor  of  the  article  before  him.  To  bring  in  olive  oil,  gold 
dust,  blue  cloud,  fairy  and  half  a  dozen  other  soaps  with  samples  of 
cotton  goods  and  declare  them  all  of  one  mother  is  stimulating  to  the 
pupil  and  knowledge  of  real  worth.  But  add  to  this  the  steps  in  the 
manufacture  of  these  products  and  you  have  brought  the  factorv  to 
the  class  room  or  taken  the  student  on  a  toiir  of  inspection. 

In  like  manner  any  raw  product  may  be  demonstrated.  On  every 
hand  we  hear  of  the  adulteration  of  food,  but  what  the  adulterants  are 
or  how  food  so  treated  appears  is  no  part  of  general  knowledge.  Adul- 
terants are  easily  obtained  and  foods  so  treated  are  in  every  show 
window.  If  assembled  they  give  as  good  an  insight  into  one  form  of 
business  effort  as  can  be  provided. 

Enough  has  been  said  to  indicate  the  relation  of  the  commercial 
museum  to  university  courses.  I  believe  it  to  be  at  least  a  partial 
answer  to  the  criticism  of  Mr.  Carnegie  and  others.  It  provides  the 
practical  and  gives  concrete  information  upon  subjects  in  which 
description  needs  fail.  Every  descriptive  course  requires  its  exhibits 
and  by  it  alone  can  the  intricate  knowledge  of  products  and  processes 
required  for  success  in  the  commercial  world  be  obtained.  It  familiar- 
izes the  workman  with  his  tools ;  gives  form  and  substance  to  principles 
and  theories,  and,  last  but  not  least,  lends  interest  to  courses  that 
although  fundamental  are  difficult  to  present. 

The  various  products  grouped  bv  countries,  supplemented  bv  views 
showing  method  of  culture,  the  means  of  marketing  and  life  of  the 
producer,  "will  give  an  idea  of  the  economic  status  of  the  place  in 
question.  This  supplemented  by  statistical  charts  and  diagrams  will 
indicate  the  position  in  world  affairs  the  country  has  occupied  or 
now  maintains.  If  the  emphasis  of  the  course  is  on  the  world  markets 
or  the  commercial  status  of  the  several  nations,  this  is  perhaps  the 
best  grouping. 

If  the  products  themselves  are  to  be  studied,  all  exhibits  should  be 
grouped  around  given  classes  or  families.  In  my  own  work  this  has 
been  the  plan  in  view.  Take  for  illustration  wheat  in  cereal  group. 
So  far  as  possible  I  have  arranged  the  samples  of  wheat  from  the 
several -countries  according  to  the  importance  of  the  country  in  the 
production  of  this  particular  product.  This  is  because  an  attempt  is 
being  made  to  consider  commercial  geography  from  the  standpoint  of 
importance  of  the  countries  in  the  world's  market.  A  secondary 
grouping  is  provided  showing  different  varieties  of  wheat  and  these 
again  arranged  so  far  as  possible  according  to  the  importance  of  the 
varieties  presented.  Finally  the  by-products  are  grouped  and  as 
many  processes  in  their  manufacture  shown  as  possible.  By  this 
means  the  student  of  a  given  industry  obtains  an  idea  of  the  sources 
of  supply  and  their  relative  importance,  of  the  methods  of  manufacture 

(285) 


82 

and  the  ultimate  products  of  the  industry.  In  presenting  the  pro- 
cesses of  manufacture  no  attempt  is  made  to  be  technical,  but  the 
fundamental  changes  occurring  in  the  transformation  of  product  are 
presented.  This  is  the  most  difficult  side,  for  me  at  least,  to  show. 
It  is  in  many  cases  impossible  to  hold  a  product  in  a  given  stage. 
Take  for  example  malt  used  in  the  production  of  liquor.  The  process 
of  fermentation  cannot  well  be  arrested  at  a  given  point.  But  in  the 
majority  of  cases  the  final  by-products  may  be  held  for  presentation. 
It  is  not  to  be  regretted,  however,  that  more  of  these  stages  of  pro- 
duction cannot  be  shown.  The  danger  of  the  commercial  museum  is 
that  of  mere  acquisition.  Anyone  who  has  witnessed  the  grand  rush 
of  the  poptilace  for  souvenirs,  stamps,  postal  cards,  etc.,  or  competed 
with  fellow  museum  men  for  the  spoils  of  some  great  exhibit,  knows 
the  overweaning  desire  we  all  have  for  everything  whether  it  can  be 
grouped  and  used  in  our  work  or  not.  The  university  museum  should 
be  a  working  tool,  not  necessarily  a  place  of  recreation  or  one  for  the 
presentation  of  novelties.  These  are  well  in  their  wav,  but  frequently 
are  so  in  the  way  as  to  obscure  the  purpose  of  the  effort.  I  have  been 
told  that  the  range  of  the  commercial  museum  w^as  unlimited,  and 
when  I  have  asked  my  informant  what  new  lines  of  effort  he  would 
suggest  the  reply  has  almost  invaribly  been  the  collection  of  freaks  in 
the  commercial  world,  or  the  presentation  of  primative  Egvptian  or 
other  methods  of  production.  The  range  of  the  commercial  museum 
is  unlimited  in  the  abstract,  but  the  range  of  a  particular  museum  is 
distinctly  circumscribed.  Personally  I  desire  all  commercial  products, 
their  by-products,  means  of  manufacture,  marketing  and  all  that,  but 
it  would  be  an  absolute  waste  of  university  monev  to  get  it.  The  cost  of 
many  of  these  are  far  beyond  their  utility,  and  there  is  so  much  that  is  of 
highest  utility  and  at  our  very  door  that  it  is  not  wisdom  to  seek  them 
at  present.  The  aim  of  the  particular  museum  should  be  to  provide 
illustrative  material  for  the  particular  courses  offered  at  a  particular 
place.  The  production  of  the  state  should  be  fullv  represented,  that 
of  the  United  States  may  be  less  minutely  shown.  A  typical  state  of 
a  given  section  may  be  exploited  for  the  whole,  but  whatever  is  done 
must  be  done  well.  An  exhibition  of  forage  crops,  or  fibers  or  cereals 
should  be  complete,  either  for  the  locality  or  the  group.  It  is  no  effort 
to  accumulate ;  any  child  can  do  that  and  many  of  our  accumulations 
are  childish.  But  to  make  a  complete  exhibit  requires  time,  patience, 
money,  and  above  all  brains.  I  have  no  sympathy  with  the  mad  grab 
that  is  so  often  witnessed.  The  collector  must  determine  his  basis  of 
classification  and  work  to  it.  The  danger  is  of  getting  too  much  rather 
than  not  enough ;  of  seeking  foreign  products  to  the  exclusion  of  home ; 
of  becoming  a  museum  instead  of  a  working  laboratorv. 


(286) 


83 

DISCUSSIOX 

Dr.  W.  H.  Schoff 
Secretary  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museums 

Of  the  development  of  a  commercial  museum  in  its  relation  to  the 
group  of  museums  under  the  control  of  our  organization  in  Philadel- 
phia it  is  not  necessary  for  me  to  speak  here,  but  the  extension  of  the 
work  so  as  to  include  a  sphere  of  usefulness  in  university  and  prepara- 
tory school  instruction  is  of  decided  importance  at  the  present  time. 
In  a  general  way  efforts  have  been  made  to  establish  this  work  at  a 
number  of  our  leading  universities  in  connection  with  the  courses  in 
economics  and  commerce,  notably  the  Universities  of  Pennsylvania, 
Wisconsin,  Iowa  and  your  own  University  of  Illinois,  and  I  have  no 
doubt  that  the  same  subject  is  under  consideration  or  is  being  actually 
worked  upon  in  a  number  of  other  universities.  With  this  movement 
we  are  in  hearty  accord  and  are  anxious  to  do  all  in  our  power  to 
further  it. 

Our  own  attention  has  been  much  more  generally  called  to  the 
need  of  placing  collections  of  commercial  material  in  the  public  high 
schools  and  grammar  schools  where  courses  in  geography  are  regularly 
given  and  where  a  more  or  less  consistent  tendency  is  now  observed 
to  infuse  into  such  courses  an  element  of  commercial  knowledge  and 
training.  We  have  been  actively  engaged  in  this  work  in  the  State  of 
Pennsylvania  for  the  past  four  or  five  years,  and  I  think  it  can  safely 
be  said  to  have  passed  its  experimental  stage.  When  we  began  to 
call  attention  to  the  need  of  such  collections  in  the  public  schools  it 
could  truthfully  be  said  that  almost  no  schools  in  the  state  had  made 
any  effort  in  that  direction,  with  the  notable  exception  of  the  Boys' 
Commercial  High  School  in  Philadelphia. 

Two  years  ago  at  a  session  of  the  State  Legislature  the  suggestion 
was  made  by  some  of  the  leaders  interested  in  educational  matters 
that  an  appropriation  should  be  made  to  us  to  continue  and  enlarge 
the  distribution  of  these  school  collections  or  miniature  museums,  and 
a  bill  appropriating  $25,000  for  that  purpose  was  adopted  without 
our  having  made  any  request  or  appeal  for  it.  This  fund  enabled  us 
to  enlarge  the  collection  in  many  directions,  so  that  it  now  includes 
over  one  hundred  original  photographs  of  large  size,  many  maps  and 
charts  showing  the  distribution  of  staple  products,  and  an  extensive 
series  of  specimens  illustrating  the  production,  shipment  and  various 
stages  of  preparation  of  almost  every  standard  article  of  consump- 
tion entering  into  our  daily  life.  We  have  gone  ahead  with  this  work, 
and  now  have  about  eight  hundred  collections  distributed  among  high 
schools  and  grammar  schools  in  every  county  in  the  state,  and  the 
work  was  so  well  appreciated  that  at  the  last  session  of  the  Legislature 
the  appropriation  was  continued  for  the  next  two  years,  by  which  time 
most  of  the  important  schools  will  have  been  supplied. 

(287) 


84 

We  have  found  an  unexpected  degree  of  interest  in  these  object 
collections  in  schools  of  the  lower  grade,  and  are  now  working  out  a 
plan  for  a  less  extensive  collection  which  might  meet  the  need  of 
secondary  or  even  primary  schools.  Our  purpose  has  been  not  so 
much  to  send  out  a  collection  complete  in  all  possible  details  as  to 
provide  a  working  nucleus  which  will  give  the  local  school  authorities 
an  idea  of  what  can  be  done  to  stimulate  an  effort  in  every  locality  to 
build  up  a  school  museum  suited  to  its  own  needs.  One  of  our  col- 
lections, amplified  in  many  directions  so  as  to  make  it  possible  for 
more  advanced  work,  has  been  presented  to  the  Commerce  Depart- 
ment of  the  University  of  Illinois  and  is  now  in  use  by  your  students 
under  Prof.  Fisk. 

In  Pennsylvania  we  have  yet  to  find  an  instance  where  the  pre- 
sentation of  one  of  these  school  museums  has  not  resulted  in  a  greatly 
increased  interest  in  commercial  education  and  a  stimulus  to  the  school 
authorities  to  continue  and  extend  the  work,  and  I  feel  that  the  same 
results  could  be  expected  in  any  state  where  the  same  effort  should  be 
made.  It  is  a  work  which  could  be  carried  on  to  great  advantage  in 
Illinois  or  in  any  of  the  states  where  the  state  university  plays  so 
prominent  a  part  in  shaping  the  course  of  instruction  in  the  public 
schools  and  where  there  is  so  widespread  and  progressive  an  interest 
in  the  general  subject  of  commercial  education. 


Professor  H.  S.  Person 
Dartmouth  College 

I  think  commercial  museums  are  of  educational  value  for  secondary 
work,  but  are  of  doubtful  value  for  university  work.  If  they  have 
any  value  for  university  work,  it  would  be  for  a  mere  elementary 
course  rather  than  for  the  advanced  work. 


COMMERCIAL  ORGANIZATION 

B}^  Professor  J.  S.  Hagerty 
Ohio  State  University 

I  shall  take  the  privilege  to  limit  the  discussion  of  commercial 
organization  to  mercantile  institutions.  Even  so  restricted  the  scope 
of  the  subject  is  very  broad  for  a  thirty  minutes'  paper.  However,  I 
shall  attempt  to  consider  the  subject,  although  briefly,  from  three 
points  of  view:  1.  The  evolution  of  mercantile  institutions  in  the 
United  States;  2.  The  internal  or  administrative  organization  of 
these  institutions,  and,  3.  The  scientific  data  afforded  by  them,  and 
the  opportunities  for  presenting  this  data  in  our  higher  commercial 
institutions. 

The  Evolution  of  Mercantile  Institutions. — In  discussing  the  evo- 

(288) 


85 

lution  of  mercantile  institutions  only  the  leading  factors  can  be  touched 
upon.  It  will  be  the  aim  of  the  paper  to  show  how  some  inevitable 
forces  were  at  work  which  preordained  our  present  mercantile 
mechanism. 

In  Adam  Smith's  time  the  producer  found  a  market  simply  for  his 
surplus  products.  Producing  purely  for  profit,  with  the  expectation 
of  procuring  a  market  for  the  entire  output,  is  a  nineteenth  century 
idea.  Even  in  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century,  when  totality 
of  production  is  considered,  this  aim  in  production  had  made  but  little 
headwav.  A  centtiry  ago  the  fields  of  business  enterprise  were  greatly 
restricted  and  the  operations  within  those  fields  were  necessarily  slow. 
We  had  no  railroads  and  canals,  no  telegraph  or  telephone  systems  in 
1800,  and  the  methods  of  communication  by  mail  were  very  slow  and 
awkward.  If  the  factory,  whi.ch  was  not  thoroughly  established  in 
England  until  1830,  had  been  in  existence  then,  its  output  would  have 
been  limited  to  a  local  market. 

So  long  as  people  produced  largely  for  personal  consumption  and 
sold  onlv  surplus  products,  no  elaborate  distributive  machinery  was 
necessarv.  The  factory  was  a  specialized  institution  with  facilities 
for  supplving  a  certain  class  of  wants  for  a  large  number  of  customers. 
Better  means  of  transportation  by  canal  and  railroad  came  with  it, 
and  shortly  afterward  better  facilities  for  communication  by  telegraph 
and  an  improved  mail  service  appeared,  and  these  forces  broadened 
the  scope  of  markets  and  made  the  selling  of  goods  complicated 
phenomena. 

The  manufactures  made  possible  by  our  exclusive  policy  prior  to 
the  war  of  1812,  and  sustained  by  the  tariff  of  1816  and  succeeding 
tariflfs,  only  maintained  a  struggling  existence  until  the  Civil  W  ar 
period,  and  the  commodities  produced  were  of  the  cruder  sort.  As 
the  western  lands  were  opened  to  settlement,  as  the  turnpike,  canal 
and  railroad  were  extended  into  western  territory,  transportation  was 
cheapened,  and  centers  of  production  and  consumption  became 
widelv  separated.  As  the  towns  and  cities  grew  they  became  the 
markets  for  the  surplus  products  of  the  farm,  while  they  as  manufac- 
turing and  commercial  centers  gave  shape  to  the  raw  materials  of  the 
farm  and  mine,  and  sent  them  out  again  in  the  form  of  farm  imple- 
ments and  more  highly  worked  up  food  products.  There  gradually 
emerged  three  classes  of  markets:  the  local,  the  city,  and  foreign 
markets. 

With  the  rise  of  the  factory  and  the  perfecting  of  faciUties  for 
communication  and  transportation,  it  became  economically  advan- 
tageous for  each  community  to  limit  itself  largely  to  the  production 
of  classes  of  products  for  which  it  was  adapted.  In  obedience  to  this 
principle  the  South  grew  cotton  and  rice,  the  West,  grain,  and  New 
England  manufactured  textile  products  and  shoes.     The  territorial 

(289) 


86 

specialization  made  necessary  distributing  centers — each  creating  a 
mechanism  for  reaching  consumers  over  very  diverse  areas. 

The  chemical  laboratory  with  its  practical  investigations  is  respon- 
sible for  the  multiplication  of  food  products  and  the  introduction  of 
by-products.  The  triumphs  of  practical  chemistry  have  given  a 
commercial  value  to  hundreds  of  things  that  were  formerlv  considered 
pure  waste.  Things  have  been  so  cheapened  that  many  things  are 
now  accessible  to  the  poor  which  formerly  were  considered  as  luxuries 
for  the  rich.  The  facilities  afforded  for  the  preservation  of  fruits  and 
other  food  products  in  course  of  transportation  have  greatly  broadened 
the  scope  of  markets.  It  was  inevitable  that  such  forces  would  make 
complex  the  mechanism  for  the  sale  of  products. 

The  distributive  factors  which  appeared  were  the  manufacturer, 
the  commission  merchant  or  broker,  or  commission  agent  or  selling 
agent,  the  jobber,  the  travelling  salesman,  and  the  retailer.  It  is  not 
maintained  that  all  these  groups  were  necessarv  to  sell  all  classes  of 
products.  Many  commodities  were  distributed  through  other  chan- 
nels than  these.  Certain  classes  of  manufactured  goods  were  from 
the  outset  sold  to  retailers.  The  manufacturers  often  sell  to  retailers 
as  well  as  to  jobbers,  while  the  jobbers  frequently  sell  to  consumers  as 
well  as  to  retailers.  The  groups  of  exchangers  referred  to  are  presented 
as  tvpical  for  the  distribution  of  a  large  class  of  commodities. 

In  the  distribution  of  goods  of  foreign  manufacture,  the  number  of 
groups  of  exchangers  was  even  greater.  Many  classes  of  goods  passed 
through  the  hands  of  the  agent  of  the  foreign  manufacturer,  the 
foreign  exporter,  the  American  importer,  the  jobber  and  the  retailer. 
When  the  producer  and  the  consumer  were  so  widely  separated  there 
was  of  necessity  a  large  margin  between  the  producers'  and  consumers' 
price.  These  distributive  factors  had  to  be  supported  and  in  absence 
of  effective  competition  the  profits  were  considerable.  Since  the 
United  States  became  a  manufacturing  nation  fewer  middlemen  were 
required  to  distribute  American  than  imported  commodities. 

Up  to  a  certain  point  the  increased  number  of  factories,  division  of 
labor  in  factory  and  territory,  an  increased  number  and  variety  of 
comrnodities  produced,  and  better  facilities  for  transportation,  all 
cooperated  in  developing  distributive  channels  which  separated  the 
producer  farther  and  farther  from  the  consumer.  Within  the  last 
thirty  or  thirty-five  years,  other  forces  have  been  operating  to  bring 
them  closer  together,  and  to  reduce  the  cost  of  marketing.  As  soon 
as  manufacturing  became  an  important  industry  in  America,  and  when 
large  amounts  of  capital  were  utilized  in  single  plants,  the  manufac- 
turers became  more  independent  of  the  middlemen,  and  competition 
between  the  latter  led  to  economy  in  methods  of  marketing. 

In  the  marketing  of  foreign  goods  the  jobber  was  compelled  to 
carry  a  general  supply  of  commodities  to  meet  the  demands  of  retailers. 

(290) 


87 

With  the  rise  of  the  American  manufacturer  there  has  been  intro- 
duced an  important  change  in  seUing  goods  known  as  "dating  ahead.  " 
Frequent  changes  in  fashion  and  other  changes  in  the  wants  of  cus- 
tomers resulting  in  violent  price  fluctuations  caused  manufacturers  to 
abandon  the  old  policy  of  haphazard  production  for  one  of  producing 
to  fill  definite  demands  after  goods  are  sold.  This  method  has  now 
become  quite  general.  Themanufacturer  sends  his  agent  to  the  jobber 
in  the  fall  and  winter  to  take  orders  to  be  filled  in  the  spring  and  in  the 
meantime  the  goods  are  produced  and  shipped.  Some  manufacturers 
make  a  practice  of  dating  twice  a  year,  and  others  do  so  more  often. 
The  jobber  goes  to  the  retailer  and  dates  ahead  in  the  same  way.  In 
many  cases  the  manufacturer  deals  directly  with  the  retailer  in  this 
manner.  Where  the  manufacturer  is  engaged  in  only  one  process  of 
manufacture,  orders  are  then  taken  of  another  manufacturer,  who  car- 
ries the  process  a  stage  farther. 

Wherever  the  system  has  been  introduced  the  strategic  position  of 
the  manufacturer  has  been  improved.  Instead  of  producing  what  he 
thinks  will  be  demanded  his  plant  is  operated  to  produce  what  has 
already  been  sold.  The  producer  and  consumer  are  brought  more 
closely  in  contact,  as  orders  for  goods  emanate  from  retailers  who  know 
consumers  and  their  wants.  The  speculative  burden  is  shifted  to  the 
retailer  whose  greatest  danger  lies  in  over-purchasing,  as  his  goods  may 
be  ordered  several  weeks  or  months  before  they  are  offered  for  sale. 

The  role  of  the  commission  merchant  is  less  important  now  than 
when  American  manufactures  were  but  little  developed.  He  pur- 
chased commodities  on  his  own  responsibility  or  sold  them  on  com- 
mission to  jobbers,  retailers  or  consumers.  He  was  an  independent 
dealer  and  often  advanced  capital  to  the  manufacturer.  With  the 
growth  of  the  plant  of  the  American  manufacturer,  the  commission 
merchant  has  been  compelled  to  give  way  to  selling  agents  of  the 
manufacturer. 

With  the  growth  in  the  size  of  the  plant  the  manufacturer  is  coming 
to  hold  the  strategic  position  in  distribution.  In  volume  twenty-five 
of  the  Annals  of  the  American  Academy  of  Political  and  Social  Science 
on  American  domestic  markets.  Professor  Jones  of  the  University  of 
Michigan  has  shown  how  the  manufacturer  is  fortifying  his  position  by 
securing  control  of  raw  materials,  and  by  undertaking  the  various 
processes  of  manufacture  under  a  single  management,  by  producing 
by-products,  and  by  controlling  certain  other  manufacturing  processes 
subsidiary  to  the  main  purposes  of  the  plant.  It  was  also  claimed 
that  the  conditions  under  which  the  finished  product  is  sold  is  deter- 
mined by  the  manufacturer.  The  exclusive  agency,  the  price  con- 
tract, the  factor  or  rebate  plan,  and  the  serial  numbering  plan  are 
devices  employed  which  narrow   the  field  of  the   retailer  and   make 

(291) 


him   dependent   upon   the   manufacturer.     Other   sources   of   similar 
import  could  be  mentioned. 

The  opportunities  afforded  in  advertising  through  various  avenues 
— the  magazine,  trade  journals,  dailypapers,  bill  posters,  etc.. — and  the 
specific  methods  of  brands,  seals,  and  trade-marks,  have  done  perhaps 
more  than  any  single  thing  to  bring  the  producer  directly  in  contact 
with  the  consumer.  As  soon  as  the  manufacturer  could  talk  directly 
to  the  consumer,  his  prosperity  was  no  longer  dependent  exclusively 
upon  the  various  classes  of  intermediate  agents  between  him  and  the 
consumer.  When  the  reputation  of  certain  classes  of  goods  was 
established,  they  practically  sold  themselves. 

The  need  of  introducing  the  rapidly  increasing  supply  of  new 
commodities  which  could  be  conveniently  produced,  coupled  with  the 
conservatism  of  the  retailer,  made  talking  to  the  consumer  by  the 
manufacturer  imperative.  Retailers  have  been  all  along  slow  in 
introducing  commodities  when  they  can  just  as  well  sell  commodities 
for  which  there  is  a  regular  demand.  If  they  assist  the  manufacturer 
by  advertising  something  new,  then  competitors  will  share  with  them 
the  rewards  of  their  enterprise.  In  the  very  nature  of  things  it  was 
impossible  for  the  retailer  to  bear  the  brunt  of  advertising  and  intro- 
ducing new  commodities.  The  brand,  seal  or  trade-mark  gave  the 
manufacturer  an  opportunity  not  only  to  introduce  a  good  of  specific 
ingredients,  but  to  keep  the  firm  name  before  the  public.  In  practi- 
calh^  all  other  methods  of  advertising,  as  in  this  case,  the  manufac- 
turer realizes  exclusively  on  his  enterprise.  It  is  a  feature  inherent 
in  the  situation,  then,  that  the  manufacturer  must  introduce  his  goods 
and  in  doing  so  he  is  freed  from  the  restraints  imposed  formerlv  bv 
mercantile  institutions. 

Within  the  mercantile  business  itself  have  arisen  organizing  forces 
which  reduce  the  cost  of  marketing.  Of  these  the  most  important  are 
the  department  store,  the  mail-order  house,  and  the  cooperative 
purchasing  combines  of  various  sorts. 

The  department  store  which  organizes  all  the  factors  of  distribution 
had  its  origin  in  the  United  States  in  the  Wanamaker  store  of  Phila- 
delphia in  1876.  Since  then  the  department  store  business  in  the 
United  States  has  had  a  steady  and  consistent  growth. 

While  vast  amounts  of  capital  were  being  invested  in  transportation 
and  manufacturing  concerns  it  was  inevitable  that  this  tendency 
would  find  expression  in  mercantile  life,  and  consequentlv  we  have 
the  enormous  retail  and  jobbing  institutions  in  our  larger  cities. 

The  economies  effected  by  the  department  store  are  man  v.  In 
organizing  the  factors  of  distribution  in  a  single  institution  the  costs 
and  profits  of  other  middlemen  are  saved.  In  large  scale  advertising 
goods  may  be  advertised  extensively  with  but  relativelv  little  cost. 
In  purchasing  in  large  quantities  and  by  expert  buyers  good  bargains 

(2Q2) 


89 

are  made,  while  the  costs  of  transportation  are  less  for  car-load  than 
less  than  car-load  quantities.  The  savings  from  discounted  bills  on 
large  purchases  are  considerable.  The  rent,  heating  and  light  econo- 
mies are  large  items. 

While  some  manufacturing  enterprises  and  several  department 
stores  conduct  a  mail-order  business,  the  mail-order  house  is  an  inde- 
pendent mercantile  institution.  Appearing  in  industry  at  about  the 
same  time  as  the  department  store,  its  growth  has  been  somewhat 
similar  to  that  of  the  latter  institution.  The  department  store  meets 
the  needs  of  the  consumer  in  the  cities,  while  the  mail-order  house 
reaches  consumers  in  the  small  towns  and  rural  districts.  Advertising 
through  the  large  catalogue  or  purchaser's  guide  is  its  medium  of 
reaching  consumers.  Like  the  department  store,  it  organizes  the 
factors  of  distribution  in  a  single  institution,  and  effects  its  chief 
economies  in  doing  so.  To  accomplish  the  same  ends  retailers  in 
several  cities  have  organized  themselves  in  cooperative  purchasing 
combines.  In  the  grocerv  business  the  chain  stores  or  a  large  number 
of  stores  under  a  single  management  accomplish  practically  the  same 
results. 

Within  the  last  thirt}'-five  years  many  striking  changes  have  taken 
place  in  mercantile  industry.  But  with  these  rapid  changes  the 
reduction  in  the  costs  of  distribution  have  not  kept  pace  with  the 
reduction  of  the  initial  or  manufacturing  costs.  In  other  words,  rela- 
tively speaking,  the  costs  of  distribution  have  increased.  Several 
causes  are  responsible  for  this: 

1.  Generally  speaking,  industrially  progress  has  been  in  a  large 
measure  due  to  the  introduction  of  machinery.  As  machinery  plays 
a  much  more  important  role  in  the  production  than  in  the  distribu- 
tion process,  the  reduction  in  costs  resulting  from  improved  machinery 
will  be  greater  in  the  former. 

2.  In  production  it  is  much  easier  to  compute  costs  of  various 
factors  than  in  distribution.  Where  this  can  be  done  it  is  easier  to 
experiment  and  thus  eliminate  unnecessary  expense  elements  in  doing  so . 

3.  The  advertising  costs  of  distribution  are  extremely  difificult  of 
computation.  At  points  where  this  is  especially  true  an  advertising 
warfare  between  firms  may  result  in  raising  the  price  of  commodities 
offered  for  sale. 

4.  In  production  when  a  new  machine  surpasses  an  old  one  the 
latter  is  discarded  without  question.  In  distribution  the  wage  and 
salar}'  cost  is  a  much  more  conspicuous  item  than  the  wage  and  salary 
cost  is  in  production.  Consequently  when  displacements  occur  in 
distribution,  they  are  displacements  of  men  to  a  greater  degree  than 
in  production.  A  more  homogeneous  and  intelligent  class  are  engaged 
in  distribution  than  in  production,  and  resist  vigorously  changes  which 
threaten  them. 

(293) 


90 

The  Internal  or  Administrative  Organization  of  Mercantile  Concerns. 
— The  development  of  the  large  mercantile  or  manufacturing  concern 
has  given  rise  to  new  fields  of  economic  study,  the  internal  or  admin- 
istrative organization  of  business.  In  the  larger  plants  the  leaders 
have  seen  the  necessity  for  and  the  advantage  of  a  thorough-going 
organization  of  the  work.  An  army  of  emplovees  needs  to  be  thor- 
oughly organized.  There  must  be  a  careful  differentiation  of  structure 
and  functions  of  the  organization  with  authoritv  and  responsibility 
resting  in  heads  of  the  different  divisions  and  subdivisions.  In  such 
an  organization  the  advantage  gained  in  the  use  of  experts,  or  men  of 
great  ability  at  the  head  of  divisions  or  sub-divisions  is  almost  im- 
measurable. What  is  said  here  of  the  mercantile  concern  will  apply 
with  equal  force  to  all  other  large  industrial  enterprises. 

In  traditional  economic  theory  the  subject  of  economics  was 
divided  into  four  divisions:  production,  exchange,  distribution,  and 
consumption,  and  of  these  exchange  and  distribution  have  received 
most  attention.  The  discussion  has  centered  verv  largelv  upon  the 
politico-economic  point  of  view,  and  the  scientific  work  was  frequently 
submerged  in  the  endorsement  of  governmental  policies.  Very  im- 
portant topics  were  the  tariff,  the  money  question,  ship  subsidies,  the 
justification  of  interest,  and  so  forth.  Economics  seemed  intended 
to  reach  conclusions  which  would  influence  legislation  along  certain 
lines.  (Much  of  the  prejudice  against  it  in  the  past  has  been  due  to 
its  political  bearings.)  The  investigation  of  phenomena  first-hand 
and  their  classification  regardless  of  influence  of  the  results  was  never 
thought  of  very  seriously. 

In  the  department  of  production  only  the  general  aspects  received 
consideration.  The  treatment  centered  about  the  problems  of  the 
division  of  labor  and  territorial  specialization.  Even  here  the  con- 
clusions were  long-range  deductions.  In  the  discussion  of  the  division 
of  labor  but  little  improvement  was  made  upon  Plato's  analysis.  The 
current  economic  texts  of  today  improve  but  little  on  the  theory  of 
the  division  of  labor  of  Adam  Smith.  But  little  investigation  was 
made  into  the  internal  organization  of  business  concerns.  Until  the 
latter  half  of  the  nineteenth  century  there  was  perhaps  some  reason 
for  this  absence  of  data.  With  the  appearance  of  the  large  industrial 
units,  however,  we  have  a  considerable  bodv  of  new  economic  data 
subject  to  analysis  and  classification. 

In  the  current  treatment  of  the  division  of  labor,  two  important 
elements,  the  coordination  of  the  various  phases  of  industrial  concerns, 
and  the  unification  of  work,  have  been  neglected. 

In  the  internal  organization  of  industrial  concerns  we  have  at 
present  a  great  mass  of  data.  Every  business  house  employs  a  staff 
of  experts  to  record  accurately  every  transaction  of  financial  signifi- 
cance to  the  management.     This  information  puts  the  manager  in 

(294) 


91 

possession  of  all  the  facts  with  reference  to  the  efficiency  of  the  organi- 
zation at  every  stage  of  the  enterprise.  In  the  determination  of  the 
efficiency  of  the  organization  the  profits  of  the  concern  are  the  guiding 
force.  All  this  data  is  kept  in  permanent  form  by  the  system  of 
bookkeeping. 

We  haye  also  the  generalizations  of  business  men,  taking  the  form 
of  policies  which  are  of  scientific  significance.  These  generalizations 
haye  weight  w'hen  approved  by  the  business  experience  of  others. 
Business  principles  are  thus  formulated  by  the  greater  captains  of  indus- 
try, based  upon  practical  experience  and  stimulated  by  the  desire  for 
gain.  These  results  are  of  great  validity  as  they  are  tested  by  success 
or  failure. 

Within  recent  years  great  advancement  has  been  made  in  the 
development  of  machinery  for  the  preservation  and  advancement  of 
this  class  of  scientific  knoweldge.  Our  accountancy  and  bookkeeping 
systems  have  almost  attained  the  dignity  of  sciences  themselves.  They 
preserve  past  experience,  analyze  and  classify  facts,  and  make  easy 
the  understanding  of  problems  very  difficult  of  comprehension  in  their 
absence.  They  put  the  man  at  the  head  of  affairs  in  control  of  the 
industrial  machinery  so  that  errors  can  be  discovered  and  adjustment 
made. 

Our  larger  industrial  enterprises  are  divided  and  subdivided  into 
various  groups.  In  some  of  our  department  stores,  for  instance,  the 
number  of  departments  range  irom  fifty  to  one  hundred.  At  the  head 
of  the  various  divisions  and  subdivisions  under  which  the  departments 
are  organized,  there  are  expert  leaders  who  have  definite  functions  to 
perform  with  corresponding  responsibility,  and  at  the  heads  of  the 
departments  themselves  are  competent  superintendents.  In  the 
larger  concerns  only  the  most  general  control  is  exercised  by  the 
superintendent  or  manager.  The  details  are  to  be  carried  out  under 
the  orders  of  the  superintendents  of  the  different  divisions  and  sub- 
divisions. 

It  is  generally  assumed  that  competition  takes  place  only  between 
rival  concerns.  In  the  larger  business  enterprises  competition  is 
almost  as  active  within  as  without.  Within  competition  is  an  active, 
progressive  force,  and  managements  avail  themselves  of  its  service. 
There  is  a  rivalry  between  different  departments,  and  between  differ- 
ent groups  and  individuals,  which  is  often  just  as  active  as  the  rivalry 
between  different  institutions.  Here  the  organization  puts  the  limits 
to  competition  and  controls  it  where  competition  would  be  unpro- 
gressive,  and  provides  the  circumstances  for  its  active  work  where  it 
is  most  progressive.  Competitive  conditions,  on  the  other  hand, 
determine  frequently  the  form  of  organization.  We  think  of  compe- 
tition usually  in  connection  with  the  making  of  prices.  Competition 
plays  just  as  important  a  role  in  rendering  excellent  service,  or  in 

(295) 


92 

seeking  customers,  or,  from  an  individual  point  of  view,  in  doing  effi- 
cient work  as  a  basis  of  ad\'ancement.  Through  organization  business 
men  have  learned  to  shape  competition  and  secure  the  best  results 
of  which  it  is  capable. 

The  Facilities  for  Presenting  the  Data  of  Mercantile  Institutions  in 
our  Higher  Educational  Schools. — Assuming  that  there  is  a  body  of 
knowledge  in  mercantile  and  industrial  organization  which  may  be 
analyzed,  classified,  and  which  may  serve  as  the  basis  for  generaliza- 
tion, this  question  arises:  Is  it  procurable?  Is  it  available  for  the 
teacher's  purpose?  The  literature  in  these  fields  at  the  preset  time 
is  decidedly  limited.  What  would  be  the  attitude  of  the  business  man 
in  making  the  facts  of  his  business  common  knowledge?  In  recent 
years  business  men  have  assumed  an  attitude  favorable  to  the  scientific 
development  of  economics.  They  are  becoming  much  more  communi- 
cable among  themselves.  In  trade  organizations  they  have  discovered 
a  consciousness  of  kind,  and  have  abandoned  the  idea  of  cornering  all 
trade  secrets.  Among  the  larger  houses  there  is  a  tendency  to  com- 
pare systems,  and  often  to  put  competitors  in  possession  of  their 
methods  of  business.  Thev  have  come  to  feel  that  free  trade  in  busi- 
ness methods  is  a  safer  guarantee  to  business  success  than  hi-gh  tariff 
walls.  They  believe  that  a  more  thorough  knowledge  of  business 
principles  by  the  public  would  not  be  detrimental  to  their  business. 
Mr.  Frank  A.  Vanderlip,  vice-president  of  the  National  City  Bank  of 
New  York  City,  in  an  article  in  the  Business  World  for  August,  1905, 
on  "A  New  College  Degree,"  says:  "If  we  had  in  our  universities 
professors  capable  of  a  thorough  scientific  understanding  of  the  prin- 
ciples underlying  many  of  the  problems  of  finance  and  commerce, 
these  men  would  help  us  to  see  distinctly  and  to  think  clearly  in  regard 
to  some  of  our  everyday  practices  and  tendencies.  The  dissemination 
of  such  knowledge  would  surely  be  of  great  value.'" 

With  reference  to  the  value  of  business  knowledge  in  a  good,  liberal 
education,  he  has  this  to  say:  "I  believe  that  in  a  proper  education, 
the  highest  work  in  commercial  life  might  be  so  outlined  as  to  be 
entirely  in  harmony  in  its  practical  application  with  the  ideals  of  those 
who  conceive  that  a  universitv  should  be  a  place  for  scientific  research, 
a  place  where  the  scientific  habit  of  mind  should  be  sought  purely  for 
the  love  of  truth.  " 

Business  men  are  coming  to  believe  that  a  knowledge  of  the 
general  principles  of  business  is  of  value  to  the  young  man  beginning 
a  business  career.  They  do  not  believe,  nor  does  the  college  man 
believe  that  this  knowledge  of  general  principles  of  business,  which  may 
be  presented  in  a  university,  will  aft'ord  to  the  student  a  "short  cut" 
to  a  business  career.  The  training  to  fit  into  a  certain  place  or  de- 
partment of  business  can  be  acquired  onlv  bv  meeting  and  solving  the 
everyday  problems  which  arise  in  that  specific  line  of  work;  but  a 

(296) 


93 

thorough-going  knowledge  of  the  general  principles  will  give  the  ap- 
prentice an  imagination  and  a  point  of  view  w^hich  will  lift  him  in 
efficiencv  above  the  individuals  who  lack  this  training. 

The  economist  has  been  following  too  long  traditional  methods. 
His  work  is  even  today  too  largely  deductive.  In  geology,  the  data 
of  science  is  in  the  soil  and  rock;  in  botany,  the  data  is  in  the  plant 
kingdom;  in  economics,  if  we  are  to  be  scientific,  the  data  should  be  in 
the  business  world,  and  ought  to  be  procured  first  hand. 


TRAIXIXG  FOR  GOVERNMENT  SERVICE 

By  Dr.  E.  Dana  Durand 
Special  Examiner  in  the  Bureau  of  Corporations 

It  mav  doubtless  be  assumed  that  in  discussing  training  for  govern- 
ment service,  w^e  are  here  chiefly  interested  in  that  training  which 
would  fall  within  the  scope  of  a  school  of  commerce  and  economics. 
There  are,  of  course,  many  branches  of  the  government  service  which 
require  technical  training  in  altogether  difterent  lines. 

It  has  seemed  to  me  that,  if  I  could  contribute  anything  of  value 
todav,  it  w^ould  be  in  the  way  of  indicating  the  extent  of  the  oppor- 
tunities for  men  of  special  economic  education  in  the  government 
emplov,  and  of  describing  the  nature  of  the  work  to  be  performed, 
rather  than  in  the  way  of  discussing  courses  of  study  and  methods  of 
instruction.  The  latter  task  may  be  left  chiefly  to  the  faculties  of  the 
departments  of  economics  and  commerce  in  the  universities.  The 
suggestions  with  reference  to  instruction  are  ventured  in  a  very  diffi- 
dent manner. 

There  is  possiblv  some  danger  of  overestimating  the  number  of 
government  positions  for  which  special  education  in  economic  and 
kindred  subjects  is  or  ever  will  be  efi^ectively  demanded — to  use  an 
economic  phrase.  Much  the  greater  part  of  the  work  of  our  national, 
state  and  municipal  governments  has  little  to  do  w4th  economics.  It 
is  either  concerned  with  other  arts  or  sciences,  or  it  is  of  essentially 
routine  character.  For  many  of  the  higher  administrative  posi- 
tions even  in  government  services  not  connected  with  economic 
matters,  there  would  perhaps  be  some  advantage  in  having  men  with 
a  good  general  knowledge  of  economics,  political  science  and  sociology, 
though  I  would  bv  no  means  advocate  making  the  academic  element 
a  dominant  one.  But  the  legislators  and  appointing  officers  in  the 
various  grades  of  government  do  not  now  recognize  and  probably  will 
not  within  a  reasonable  time  in  the  future  recognize  the  need  of  any 
high  degree  of  education  in  economic  and  allied  sciences  as  a  qualifi- 
cation for  positions  of  this  character. 

The  national,  state  and  local  governments  do,  however,  undertake 

(297) 


94 

an  enormous  amount  of  work  that  is  essentially  economic,  and  the 
the  scope  and  extent  of  work  of  this  character  is  growing  apace.  For 
proper  performance  of  this  work  it  is  desirable  that  there  be,  in  the 
more  responsible  positions,  a  large  number  of  men  who  have  been 
thoroughly  trained  in  schools  of  commerce  and  economics.  I  do  not 
mean  that  only  men  so  educated  should  hold  these  positions.  It  may 
be  that  a  man  who  has  gained  his  ideas  on  economic  matters  from 
experience  in  law,  journalism  or  business,  coupled  with  general 
reading  and  observation,  has  made  conspicuous  success  in  public 
service  of  a  technical  economic  character.  But  in  general  the  man 
who  has  thoroughly  and  systematically  studied  the  various  social, 
economic  and  political  branches  of  science  will  obviously  be  better 
fitted  for  such  public  service. 

More  important  than  the  question  what  is  desirable  is  the  question 
what  is  desired  by  those  in  authority.  What  are  the  chances  that  the 
student  who  has  specialized  with  a  view  to  the  government  service 
will  find  his  training  helpful  in  getting  a  job  ?  I  think  one  may  answer 
that  the  chances  are  fair,  and  that  thev  are  increasing  every  year. 
The  importance  of  having  specially  trained  and  thoroughly  competent 
men  for  the  more  responsible  positions  in  the  economic  work  of  the 
government  is  not  yet  by  any  means  sufficiently  appreciated  by  law- 
makers, executive  officers  or  the  general  public.  But  the  desirability 
of  having  them  is  more  appreciated  today  than  ever  before,  and  the 
trend  is  distinctly  and  rapidly  in  the  right  direction.  This  is,  to  be 
sure,  far  more  true  of  the  federal  government  than  of  the  state  and 
local  governments,  but  the  influence  of  the  former  is  bound  to  react 
upon  the  lower  grades  of  government. 

The  opinion  is  still  widely  prevalent  that  men  who  have  studied 
economics  in  the  universities  are  mere  theorists,  unfitted  to  deal  with 
practical  problems.  This  opinion,  which  was  always  an  exaggerated 
one,  is  gradually  giving  way  as  our  universities  are  more  and  more 
emphasizing  the  study  of  practical  econornic  conditions.  If  those  in 
charge  of  our  educational  institutions  will  lav  still  greater  stress  on 
such  practical  study,  they  will,  we  may  trust,  still  more  break  down 
the  distrust  of  the  academic  economist. 

With  this  introduction,  let  us  pass  to  a  brief  enumeration  of  the 
leading  government  departments  and  bureaus  which  are  largely 
concerned  with  economic  and  related  problems. 

The  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor  doubtless  offers  the 
broadest  field.  Its  bureaus  of  the  Census,  Labor,  Corporations  and 
Statistics,  which  together  include  some  thousands  of  employees,  are 
or  should  be,  in  large  measure  scientific  investigators  of  economic 
conditions.  Somewhat  similar  fields  are  covered,  though  usually 
much  less  efficiently,  by  the  many  bureaus  of  labor  or  of  indtistrial 
statistics  in  the  several  states,  by  state  bureaus  for  the  inspection  of 

(298) 


95 

factories,  mines,  etc.,  and  by  state  and  municipal  authorities  dealing 
with  vital  statistics.  In  the  federal  Department  of  Agriculture  also 
much  economic  and  statistical  investigation  is  being  made,  and  the 
same  is  true  in  some  measure  of  similar  state  authorities.  The  work 
of  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission  and  of  the  numerous  state 
railroad  commissions  ought  also  to  demand  special  economic  training 
for  at  least  part  of  the  emplovees. 

There  is  no  question  also  that  work  in  the  diplomatic  and  consular 
services,  including  some  positions  in  the  State  Department  at  home 
and  more  abroad,  would  be  improved  by  a  large  infusion  of  men 
trained  in  the  commercial  and  economic  departments  of  our  colleges 
and  universities.  At  present  these  services  are  not  under  civil-service 
rules,  and  appointments  have  been  too  often  made  for  considerations 
other  than  fitness,  but  there  is  good  prospect  of  a  change  for  the  better 
in  this  respect. 

Another  class  of  services  in  which  there  is  need  of  much  more 
recognition  of  special  training  than  exists  today  consists  of  those 
which  have  to  do  with  finance  in  its  various  branches — not  only 
public  finance  proper,  but  also  monev,  banking  and  insurance.  Our 
financial  policy,  national  and  local,  is  largely  lacking  in  scientific 
basis.  Recent  appointments  of  such  men  as  Hollander,  Jenks,  Wil- 
loughbv  and  Charles  A.  Conant  in  important  temporary  or  permanent 
positions  of  this  sort  give  ground  for  hope  that  college  men  will  more 
and  more  find  openings  in  the  secondary  as  well  as  the  highest  work 
in  the  financial  and  quasi-financial  departments  of  the  government. 

While  the  more  important  fields  have  thus  been  cursorily  men- 
tioned, it  may  be  said  without  further  enumeration  that  there  are, 
in  various  other  government  departments,  even  in  some  of  those 
which  have  in  general  least  to  do  with  economic  questions,  a  consider- 
able number  of  positions  for  which  special  training  in  economic  and 
kindred  subjects  is  clearly  desirable. 

What  now  is  to  be  said  with  reference  to  the  nature  of  the  work 
which  the  economic  specialist  may  find  to  do  in  the  various  branches 
of  government  service  named? 

It  should  be  noted  at  the  outset  that,  even  in  those  government 
departments  that  are  most  concerned  with  economic  and  allied 
matters,  the  great  majority  of  the  positions  are  essentially  clerical. 
For  such  places  no  special  preparation,  other  than  a  good  secondary 
education,  is  required.  Moreover,  in  many,  if  not  most,  instances 
experience  in  this  purely  clerical  routine  work  is  not  particularly 
useful  as  a  training  for  the  higher  positions.  There  is,  in  my  judg- 
ment, too  marked  a  disposition,  under  present  civil-service  rules  and 
the  practice  of  appointing  officers,  to  fill  the  more  responsible  positions 
by  promotion  from  the  lower  ranks.  This  is  often  carried  to  the 
extent  of  bringing  to  the  top  men  who  after  all  are  essentially  clerks 

(299) 


96 

in  nature  and  training.  Such  a  policy  is  in  itself  a  hindrance  to  the 
entrance  of  well-trained  specialists  into  government  service.  But  it 
is  one  of  the  marks  of  progress  that  the  excessive  preference  for  pro- 
motion" is  giving  way  to  a  recognition  of  the  essential  difference  between 
the  qualifications  required  for  mere  routine  work  and  those  required 
for  scholarly  and  discretionary  work. 

Above  the  clerical  level  there  are,  of  course,  many  gradations. 
Broadlv  speaking  two  main  strata  may  be  distinguished.  The  first 
consists  of  positions  in  which  the  work,  although  requiring  special 
knowledge  and  judgment,  is  almost  wholly  under  direction ;  the  second 
of  those  where  it  is  largely  independent,  responsible  and  discretionary. 

Work  of  the  first  grade  mentioned  may  perhaps  be  broadly  sub- 
divided into  field  work  and  ofifice  work.  These  two  are  not  exclusive 
of  one  another.  In  practice  many  men  pass  from  one  to  the  other  as 
the  exigencies  of  the  service  require,  and  this  arrangement  is  often 
beneficial  both  in  the  field  and  in  the  ofifice.  The  field  agents  of  the 
bureaus  of  the  Census,  of  Labor  and  of  Corporations  are  the  most 
conspicuous  examples  of  the  former  class.  The  business  of  the  field 
agent  is  to  collect  economic  and  other  statistical  data  at  first  hand,  to 
conduct  interviews,  secure  access  to  records  and  abstract  them,  and 
the  like.  Unfortunately  the  importance  of  good  field  work  has  been 
generally  greatly  underestimated.  Many  of  our  statistical  reports 
are  well  nigh  worthless  because  the  original  material  has  been  gathered 
with  so  little  care,  intelligence  and  honesty.  Trained  economists  are. 
still  rarities  in  field  investigations  for  the  government,  and  even 
college  men  are  the  exception.  Fortunately  there  is  a  distinct  ten- 
dency toward  insistence  on  higher  qualifications.  Much  field  work  in 
the  bureaus  mentioned  and  in  others  of  kindred  character  needs  men 
who  know  a  great  deal  about  economic  conditions  and  about  business 
methods  generally,  men  of  sound  judgment,  critical  spirit,  mental 
honesty  and  industry — men,  in  short,  such  as  a  school  of  economics 
and  commerce  is  well  fitted  to  produce.  Some  field  work,  indeed, 
notably  in  the  Bureau  of  Corporations,  is  so  important  and  difficult 
that  it  must  be  classed  with  the  higher  rather  than  the  lower  of  the 
two  main  groups  heretofore  distinguished.  Aside  from  education, 
certain  personal  elements — good  address,  tact,  perseverence,  force — 
are  required  in  the  field  agent,  more  so  even  than  in  the  office  worker. 

The  permanent  field  agents  of  the  Census  Bureau  are  for  the  most 
part  paid  $1,200,  a  few  $1,400  per  year;  those  of  the  Bureau  of  Cor- 
porations from  $1,400  to  $2,500,  but  the  higher  salaries  are  given  only 
to  men  of  much  experience  and  cannot  be  expected  by  those  just  out 
of  the  university. 

Office  work  in  government  bureaus  which  have  to  do  with  economic 
and  allied  subjects  is  so  varied  that  only  a  rough  idea  of  some  of  the 
main  classes  can  be  given.     Among  tasks  of  a  subordinate  character 

(300) 


97 

which  yet  call  for  special  economic  training  may  be  mentioned  the 
planning,  supervision,  criticism  and  interpretation — all  in  their  more 
detailed  aspects — of  statistical  tables,  the  direction  of  held  agents 
and  the  criticism  of  the  material  they  send  in,  the  compilation  and 
abstracting  of  information  from  published  sources  or  from  original 
investigations,  the  translation  of  documents,  and  similar  tasks.  The 
man  engaged  in  such  work  mav  or  may  not  have  clerks  under  his 
direction.  Evidently  work  of  the  kinds  described  is  essentially  scien- 
tific. It  calls  for  scientific  knowledge  of  facts  and  still  more  of  methods 
and  for  the  scientific  spirit  and  judgment  which,  though  not  the  mo- 
nopoly of  men  trained  in  economics  and  kindred  branches,  are  cer- 
tainly more  likely  to  appear  among  such  men  than  among  most  others. 
The  number  of  positions  requiring  work  of  this  character  is  very 
considerable,  and  is  constantly  growing.  The  man  just  out  of  the 
university  who  happens  to  get  a  position  of  this  sort  may  expect  at 
the  beginning  to  earn  from  $1,000  to  $1,400. 

A  rather  wide  interval,  which,  however,  is  occupied  by  an  unbroken 
series  of  gradations,  exists  between  the  lowest  and  the  highest  types 
of  government  work  along  economic  lines.  By  the  highest  class  I  now 
refer  to  work  falling  within  the  limits  of  positions  in  the  "classified 
service,"  as  it  is  called,  in  the  federal  government, — that  is,  the  ser- 
vice ordinarily  entered  by  competitive  examination.  The  employee 
of  this  rank,  though  in  large  measure  independent  and  responsible, 
is  ordinarily  subject  to  the  immediate  direction  of  a  bureau  chief,  who 
is  a  presidential  appointee.  The  highest  grade  in  the  classified  service 
includes,  for  example,  chiefs  of  division  and  expert  special  agents  and 
investigators.  To  such  men  often  falls  a  large  part  in  the  execution 
of  policies,  the  direction  of  employees,  the  planning  of  investigations 
and  the  drafting  of  reports.  The  number  of  places  of  this  sort  is 
comparatively  small;  the  maximum  salary  is  usually  from  $2,500  to 
$3,000. 

It  is  evident  that  the  qualifications  required  for  positions  of  the 
sort  described  are  decidedly  higher  than  those  needed  for  positions  at 
the  bottom  of  the  ladder  of  scientific  work.  Not  every  man  trained 
in  the  school  of  commerce  or  economics  can  hope  for  one  of  these  more 
responsible  places.  Usually  .they  are  filled  as  the  result  of  gradual 
promotion ;  though  in  some  cases,  where  new  blood  is  needed,  men  who 
have  already  won  their  spurs  outside  in  academic  life,  in  journalism 
or  in  law  are  properly  enough  brought  in. 

But,  I  seem  to  hear  the  ambitious  student  ask  if  this  is  the  best 
prospect  government  service  can  offer  me,  with  all  my  special  train- 
ing? Are  these  the  limits  of  salaries  for  specialists?  Can  I  not  hope 
that  my  education  will  at  least  count  somewhat  in  competition  for 
still  higher  places — such  as  the  headship  of  a  bureau  or  even  a  depart- 
ment ?     I  fear  that  encouraging  answers  to  these  .  questions  cannot 

(301) 


98 

honestly  be  given.  It  is  generally  recognized  that  the  government, 
especially  perhaps  the  national  government,  underpays  its  more 
responsible  workers  in  all  departments.  And  this  is  likely  to  continue 
true,  though  there  may  be  some  increase  in  the  scale  of  compensation. 
But  after  all  government  service  pays  quite  as  well  as  teaching,  the 
occupation  which  so  large  a  proportion  of  our  university  graduates 
enter.  Both  professions  must  rely  for  getting  good  men  on  the  exist- 
ence of  other  motives  than  the  desire  for  money  or  for  power.  Neither 
can  compete  with  private  business  in  financial  inducements.  If  our 
schools  of  commerce  really  succeed,  as  I  understand  they  hope  to  do, 
in  making  most  of  their  graduates  men  whom  the  world  of  business 
will  demand,  they  cannot  at  the  same  time  expect  to  contribute 
largely  to  government  service,  unless  they  preserve  and  cultivate 
other  ambitions  besides  that  of  acquiring  wealth. 

Moreover,  the  man  with  ambition  for  political  power  can  count  on 
little  help  from  special  university  education  in  any  other  subject  than 
law.  Bureau  chiefships  and  other  positions  outside  the  classified 
service  are  occasionally  filled  by  promotion,  and  still  more  rarely  by 
the  appointment  of  men  who  have  become  conspicuous  in  academic  or 
allied  scholarly  pursuits.  But  usually  other  considerations  and  qualifica- 
tions, sometimes  perfectly  legitimate, -sometimes  otherwise,  determine 
such  appointments,  and  this  is  likely  to  be  the  case  for  a  long  time  to 
come.  I  may  add  parenthetically  that  a  purely  academic  govern- 
ment service  is  in  no  way  to  be  desired.  It  doubtless  would  be  well 
to  have  more  men  of  special  education  and  experience  in  economic 
lines  occupying  political  positions,  but  the  practice  might  be  carried 
too  far.  A  good  deal  of  the  work  of  the  bureau  chief,  for  example,  is 
business  and  not  science. 

Having  seen  thus  the  general  nature  of  the  positions  in  government 
service  for  which  special  training  in  economic  and  commercial  courses 
would  be  desirable,  we  turn  to  this  important  question:  By  what  pro- 
cedure can  the  man  so  trained  enter  public  employment,  and  what  are 
his  chances  in  competition  for  appointment?  In  discussing  this 
question  I  must  confine  myself  almost  wholly  to  the  federal  govern- 
ment. In  a  few  states  where  the  civil-service  examination  system 
exists,  as  in  New  York  and  Massachusetts,  the  conditions  bear  some 
resemblance  to  those  in  the  national  government,  though  the  system 
is  usually  much  less  satisfactory  both  in  form  and  in  administration. 
In  most  states,  however,  appointments  generally  are  still  made  with 
little  consideration  of  fitness,  so  that  the  college  man's  chances  are 
slight;  and  to  discuss  in  any  definite  way  the  probability  of  future 
improvement  would  be  mere  guesswork. 

Leaving  aside  the  places,  usually  of  a  confidential  or  financially 
responsible  character,  which  are  by  law  or  general  rule  exempt  from 
examination,  nearly  all  original  appointments  in  the  federal  service 

(302) 


99 

are  made  under  competitive  examinations,  though  appointment  by- 
special  exception,  under  order  of  the  president,  is  still  not  uncommon. 
A  third  method,  non-competitive  examination,  might  be  used,  but  is 
at  present  confined  to  testing  fitness  for  promotion. 

As  nearly  as  I  can  ascertain,  only  a  few  examinations  have  ever 
been  held  by  the  national  Civil  Service  Commission,  for  the  special 
purpose  of  filling  positions  in  economic  and  statistical  work.  This  is 
partly  due  to  the  fact  that,  until  recently,  those  in  authority  have 
been  content  that  many  positions  which  should  have  been  occupied 
by  men  at  least  in  some  degree  specialists  should  be  held  instead  by 
clerks  of  very  ordinary  qualifications,  or  bv  men  promoted  solely  on 
the  basis  of  their  office  experience.  Just  so  far  as  this  policy  continues 
the  man  specially  educated  in  economics  and  allied  subjects  will  stand 
only  a  fair  chance  of  getting  into  the  government  service  at  all,  in 
competition  with  the  many  who  take  the  examinations  in  which  no 
special  stress  is  laid  on  economic  subjects.  Under  conditions  as  they 
have  been  for  the  most  part  in  the  past,  moreover,  the  specialist  in 
economic  lines  who  happened  to  pass  a  clerical  examination  had  no 
certainty  whatever  of  getting  an  appointment  at  the  kind  of  work  for 
which  he  was  particularly  fitted.  Candidates  from  the  clerical  rolls 
are  called  for  by  many  departments  and  the  man  who  stands  at  the 
top  must  go  where  he  is  first  drafted  or  run  the  risk  of  waiting  long  for 
a  place.  But,  as  already  suggested,  there  is  a  constantly  growing 
recognition  among  the  powers  that  be  of  the  need  of  economic  training 
in  certain  branches  of  the  government  service.  This  means  that  more 
and  more  special  competitive  examinations  will  be  framed  which  will 
give  the  man  of  superior  training  a  far  better  chance  of  appointment. 
Indeed  several  examinations  have  been  given  recentl}^  in  which 
tests  for  fitness  to  handle  economic  subjects  were  decidedly  severe,  and 
the  results  proved  quite  satisfactory.  At  present  many  a' college  man 
feels  it  beneath  his  dignity  to  compete  in  a  civil-service  examination. 
This  feeling  should  largely  disappear  when  the  requirements  become 
such  as  to  properly  test  fitness  for  responsible  work,  and  at  the  same 
time  to  limit  the  number  and  improve  the  character  of  the  competi- 
tors. Despite  many  criticisms  as  to  the  unpractical  nature  of  the 
tests  it  has  prescribed,  tlie  United  States  Civil  Service  Commission  is 
entirely  willing,  and,  with  the  aid  of  specialists  already  in  the  service, 
entirely  able,  to  frame  examinations  which  shall  effectively  and  fairly 
determine  fitness  even  for  highly  specialized  work.  All  that  is  needed 
is  that  appointing  ofiicers  should  demand  such  examinations.  As 
a  matter  of  fact  hundreds  of  examinations  have  been  held  for  highly 
technical  positions  in  other  than  economic  lines,  examination,  for 
example,  involving  the  highest  mathematics,  chemistry,  physics, 
architecture  and  engineering. 

It  is  objected  to  the  examination  system  that  the  man  who  has 

(.303) 


100 

crammed  his  memory  just  before  the  examination,  or  the  mere  book 
man,  is  likely  to  surpass  one  of  really  broader  scholarship  and  greater 
efficiency.  But  this  danger  can  be,  and  often  is,  largely  obviated  by 
including  previous  achievement  as  one  of  the  tests  in  the  examination. 
By  this  arrangement  the  studies  the  candidate  has  pursued,  the  de- 
grees he  has  received,  the  publications  he  has  issued,  and  his  success 
in  his  profession  or  business,  are  all  allowed  direct  and  large  weight  in 
determining  his  rank.  Indeed  in  some  competitive  examinations  by 
the  Civil  Service  Commission  these  factors  have  been  almost  the  only 
tests  considered.  With  this  disposition  manifest  there  is  reason  to 
anticipate  that  more  and  more  examinations  for  positions  along  eco- 
nomic and  kindred  lines  will  be  held  in  which  a  degree  from  a  school  of 
commerce,  together  with  other  evidences  of  successful  work  done  by 
the  student,  will  alone  give  him  a  marked  advantage  in  competition, 
and  in  which,  moreover,  the  direct  questions  will  be  such  as  to  make 
such  education  count  very  heavily. 

It  is  almost  exclusively  through  competitive  examination  that  men 
just  out  of  the  college  or  university  will  have  to  enter  the  government 
service.  The  appointments  to  all  of  the  lower  positions  will  continue  to 
be  almost  wholly  made  by  this  method.  Most  of  the  higher  positions 
within  the  classified  service  will  probably  always  be  filled  by  promo- 
tion. I  am  inclined  to  think,  however,  that  we  shall  see  in  the  future 
a  considerable  number  of  special  competitive  examinations  held  even 
for  places  of  great  responsibility  and  requiring  advanced  technical 
training.  The  system  can  be  carried  further  with  respect  to  economic 
work  just  as  it  has  been  with  respect  to  other  government  scientific 
work.  The  difficulty  sometimes  arises  that  the  man  who  passes  the 
best  examination,  whatever  the  tests  applied,  may  be  lacking  in  cer- 
tain personal  elements — such  as  address,  tact  and  force — which  are 
essential  for  the  more  responsible  positions,  especially  in  connection 
with  economic  investigations.  This  difficulty,  however,  is  partly 
obviated  by  the  liberty  given  the  appointing  officer  to  choose  among 
the  three  highest  candidates  or  to  reject  an  entire  roll  of  candidates. 
Aside  from  the  restraint  which  it  places  on  abuse  of  the  appointing 
power,  there  is  another  marked  advantage  in  the  competitive  sj^stem 
in  certain  cases.  By  the  wide  advertisement  given  to  the  examina- 
tions men  of  special  qualifications  who  might  otherwise  have  remained 
unknown  to  him  may  be  brought  to  the  attention  of  the  appointing 
officer. 

It  still  remains  true,  however,  that  there  are  cases  where  competi- 
tive examination,  even  though  great  weight  is  allowed  for  previous 
attainment,  cannot  be  a  wholly  satisfactory  method  of  securing  men 
fitted  to  exercise  broad  discretion  and  to  do  highly  responsible  work. 
Advantage  may  accrue  to  the  government  service  at  times  by 
allowing  the   appointing  officer,   under  proper  safeguards,   to  select 

(304) 


101 

men  without  competition.  He  may  know  of  one  who  is  obviously 
just  the  man  for  the  place,  one  who  has  specialized  in  just  the  line 
desired  and  who  is  a  recognized  authority,  or  who  combines  in  an 
exceptional  manner  the  personal  characteristics  required.  Appoint- 
ment without  examination  in  such  a  case  saves  time  and  expense,  and 
precludes  the  possibility  that  some  unfortunate  arrangement  of  the 
competitive  tests  may  exclude  the  very  best  candidate.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  a  considerable  number  of  positions  in  the  classified  service,  in 
government  bureaus  dealing  with  economic  and  allied  problems,  have 
recently  been  filled  by  special  exception  order  without  examination. 
This  is  true,  for  example,  of  some  of  the  best  appointments  in  the  Bureau 
of  Corporations. 

Such  a  method  of  appointment  may  be  abused,  under  a  weak  or 
partisan  executive  officer,  but  abuse  might,  it  seems  to  me,  be  largely 
precluded  if,  instead  of  allowing  the  President  the  first  and  exclusive 
jurisdiction  to  authorize  exceptional  appointments,  the  law  should 
require  the  approval  of  the  proposed  appointment  by  the  Civil  Service 
Commission  before  action  could  be  taken  by  the  President.  Already 
it  is  customary  in  making  exceptions  to  lay  before  the  Commission 
some  evidence  or  statement  regarding  the  special  qualifications  of 
the  candidate,  but  this  is  largely  perfunctory.  It  might  easily  be 
required  that  full  and  precise  evidence  of  superior  fitness  should  be 
submitted.  Or,  in  addition  to  previous  attainment,  the  Commission 
might  submit  the  candidate  to  a  severe  non-competitive  examination. 
If  non-competitive  examinations  can  be  properly  used  in  connection 
with  promotions  there  seems  no  reason  why  they  should  not  be  used 
in  connection  with  original  appointments  to  the  highest  grades  of  the 
classified  service,  in  particular  instances. 

We  turn  now  finally  to  consider  the  nature  of  the  instruction 
desirable  for  those  students  who  aim  to  enter  branches  of  the  govern- 
ment concerned  with  economic  and  social  problems.  I  must  at  the 
outset  admit  a  large  measure  of  ignorance  as  to  just  what  instruction 
is  already  being  given  in  many  of  the  universities  and  schools  of  com- 
merce. It  is  probable,  however,  that  in  a  number  of  our  best  institu- 
tions most  of  the  courses  needed  are  already  being  offered. 

If  there  is  one  point  which  should  be  emphasized  more  than  another 
it  is  the  desirability  of  a  broad  foundation.  There  is  danger  of  too 
early  and  too  narrow  specialization  in  many  branches  of  modem  educa- 
tion. From  the  standpoint  solely  of  personal  success  the  student 
should  indeed  seek  a  broad  training  even  more  for  government  ser- 
vice than  for  a  private  profession.  For,  aside  from  the  superior 
efficiency  it  will  tend  to  give  him,  it  will  open  more  avenues  for  ap- 
pointment. As  conditions  now  exist  the  man  who  would  enter  govern- 
ment employ  has  less  opportunity  to  choose  for  himself  the  precise 
nature  of  the  work  he  shall  do  than  is  the  case  with  men  entering  most 

(305) 


102 

other  professions.  The  ways  he  must  take  are  narrow  and  some  are 
at  times  closed  entirely. 

At  the  same  time  the  greatest  success  in  government  scientific 
work,  as  in  other  scientific  work,  is  usually  achieved  by  the  specialist. 
The  man  who  has  the  patience  to  work  up  gradually  in  the  government 
service  to  just  the  influential  place  he  wants,  or  to  wait  for  it  while 
remaining  in  private  employment,  will  do  well  to  carry  his  studies  in 
the  tmi versify  to  a  high  degree  of  specialization.  But  let  him  build 
his  structure  on  a  broad  foundation  of  culture  studies  and  of  economics 
and  allied  sciences,  that  he  may  strengthen  his  intellect,  broaden  his 
judgment  and  increase  his  ability  to  deal  with  new  conditions  and 
problems. 

As  a  preparation  for  government  positions  in  the  lower  of  the  two 
general  classes  distinguished  in  this  paper,  there  is  comparatively 
little  need  of  close  specialization  within  the  broad  field  of  economic 
and  social  science.  It  would  be  well  for  the  student,  in  addition  to 
the  ordinary  culture  studies,  to  take  practically  all  the  courses  in 
economics  which  are  ordinarily  offered  in  our  better  colleges,  or  which 
are  considered  primarily  undergraduate  studies  in  the  larger  univer- 
sities. The  most  advanced  courses  are  not  perhaps  necessary  as  a 
preparation  for  work  of  this  grade.  It  goes  without  saying,  however, 
that  in  addition  to  a  good  elementary  course  in  economic  principles, 
the  aspirant  for  government  employment  should  have  comprehensive 
courses  in  descriptive  economics.  If  possible  there  should  be  in  every 
school  of  commerce  three  courses  of  a  somewhat  general  character  on 
this  field,  aside  from  others  which  are  more  specialized, — or  perhaps 
all  three  might  be  comprized  under  the  name  of  one  course,  provided 
adequate  time  were  given  to  it.  This  course  or  courses  should  include 
(1)  the  elements  of  economic  history;  (2)  general  description  of  the 
national,  and  to  some  extent  of  the  world's,  industry  and  commerce, 
showing  the  nature  of  the  leading  commodities,  the  place  and  method 
of  their  production,  and  the  methods  of  transporting  and  marketing 
them, — practically  what  I  understand  to  be  meant  ordinarily  by  com- 
mercial geography,  though  it  is  by  no  means  confined  to  commerce 
proper;  and  (3)  a  description  of  commercial  and  industrial  organiza- 
tion, dealing  with  the  nature,  organization,  operation  and  interrela- 
tions of  the  various  institutions  of  business.  Unfortunately  as  yet 
the  material  for  the  proper  presentation  of  these  subjects  is  limited, 
but  it  is  in  securing  and  systematizing  such  material  that,  as  it  seems 
to  me,  the  schools  of  commerce  are  doing  and  have  yet  to  do  their 
greatest  service. 

The  more  specialized  courses  in  practical  economic  problems  which, 
at  least  in  elementary  form,  are  desirable  for  every  man  seeking 
government  employment  in  the  lines  under  consideration,  include 
money,  banking  and  exchange,  public  finance,  labor  problems,  and 

(.306) 


103 

transportation,  all  of  which  arc  usually  tausjjht  in  a  fairly  satisfactory 
manner  in  our  better  institutions,  though  much  yet  remains  to  be 
desired  in  the  wav  of  securing  an  adequate  basis  of  facts  from  which 
to  draw  generalizations. 

For  the  purpose  of  preparing  for  government  service,  emphasis 
should  be  laid  upon  the  bibliography  and  sources  of  information  in 
connection  with  all  the  courses  above  suggested.  Indeed  a  short 
course  dealing  especially  with  bibliography  and  sources  would  be 
advantageous.  The  student  shoukl  be  made  familiar  with  the  scope, 
functions  and  ]niblications  of  the  various  government  departments, 
state  and  national,  which  deal  with  economic  and  kindred  subjects. 

A  fairlv  thorough  course  in  statistical  methods  is  also  needed  as  a 
preparation  for  government  work  in  almost  every  branch  within  the 
broad  economic  field.  Statistical  data  do  not,  of  course, constitute  an  in- 
dependent science ;  they  are  merely  a  part  of  the  data  of  other  sciences. 
In  other  economic  courses,  if  properly  taught,  the  student  will  learn 
not  a  little  of  the  manner  of  handling  and  interpreting  statistics.  But 
this  method  of  presentation  is  so  large  a  factor  in  government  work 
that  a  separate  course  in  the  art  of  statistics  is  desirable.  It  should 
include  instruction  and  practice  in  the  methods  of  collecting,  editing, 
tabulating,  diagramming  and  interpreting  statistical  facts  in  various 
leading  subjects. 

Again,  as  a  preparation  for  government  service,  the  student  should 
learn  the  general  principles  of  bookkeeping,  of  which,  elementary  as 
thev  are,  many  a  college  man  is  lamentably  ignorant,  including  also 
the  rudiments  of  the  higher  art  of  analyzing  and  interpreting  accounts. 
He  should  have  some  instruction  also  in  elementary  law,  one  or  more 
courses  being  designed  with  special  reference  to  industry,  commerce 
and  labor  and  covering  the  field  in  such  a  manner  as  to  be  most  useful 
to  the  man  who  is  not  a  lawyer.  A  general  course  in  political  science 
and  administrative  law,  with  emphasis  on  the  practical  working  of 
the  American  governments,  is  exceedingly  desirable,  as  is  also  an 
elementary  study  of    constitutional  law  and  constitutional  historyi 

The  training  which  has  been  outlined  would  go  far  toward  fitting  a 
man  for  a  secondary  position  in  the  scientific  government  service.  He 
who  aims  at  places  of  high  responsibility  ought  to  take  all  this  and 
more.  Whatever  the  special  field  toward  which  he  would  turn,  he 
w^ould  do  well  to  push  further  along  the  several  lines  of  study  already 
.indicated.  It  would  hardly  be  doing  too  much  if  he  should  take  all 
the  courses  in  economics  which  are  offered  in  our  best  universities,  as 
well  as  some  work  in  law  and  political  science  beyond  that  required  as 
a  preparation  for  the  more  subordinate  positions.  He  would  best,  in 
my  judgment,  not  specialize  too  narrowly. 

Excepting  perhaps  in  the  financial  or  quasi-financial,  and  in  the 
diplomatic  and  consular  services,  the  student  who  seeks  such  highly 

(307) 


104 

responsible  work  will  almost  always  find  useful  a  more  thorough 
training  in  statistical  methods  than  was  suggested  above.  It  seems 
to  me  that  the  best  of  our  universities  and  schools  of  commerce  should 
maintain  statistical  laboratories,  giving  concrete  and  practical  experi- 
ence. Let  the  student,  for  example,  be  set  the  problem  of  planning 
broadly  a  statistical  investigation,  determining  the  sources  of  informa- 
tion to  be  sought,  drafting  schedules,  and  mapping  out  tables  and 
diagrams.  Let  him  be  given  statistical  schedules  already  filled  out  to 
criticize  and  revise.  Let  him  analyze,  summarize  and  interpret  in  a 
thorough  manner  selected  published  statistics,  criticizing  the  methods 
of  presentation  given  in  the  reports. 

If  schools  of  commerce  and  universities  wish  to  prepare  men  for 
the  most  technical  and  responsible  economic  work  in  the  government 
service,  they  ought,  in  view  of  the  intensely  difficult  but  intensely 
practical  nature  of  the  problems  such  men  will  have  to  face,  to  give 
even  more  advanced  courses  than  are  now  offered  in  the  various 
phases  of  actual  economic  life,  past  and  present.  The  nature  of  the 
different  government  services  in  most  instances  suggests  clearly 
enough  the  lines  of  specialization  for  the  student.  For  work  in  financial 
and  allied  subjects  there  are  evidently  needed  more  advanced  courses 
in  public  finance,  money  and  banking,  and  insurance.  For  high 
positions  in  the  Bureau  of  Corporations,  the  manufactures  division  of 
the  Census  and  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission,  or  in  similar 
offices  in  the  states,  there  should  be  special  study  of  industrial  and 
commercial  geography,  methods  of  producing,  transporting  and 
marketing  products,  and  methods  of  organizing  and  managing  enter- 
prises ;  and  also  a  more  thorough  training  in  accounting  than  is  needed 
elsewhere.  These  same  courses  (except  perhaps  the  accounting) 
would  also  be  very  useful  training  for  the  foreign  consul,  for  in  order 
best  to  aid  our  foreign  trade  the  consul  needs  to  know  thoroughly 
industrial  and  commercial  conditions  in  his  own  country.  Obviously, 
however,  preparation  for  a  consulship  calls  for  more  study  of  inter- 
national commerce  and  of  industrial  and  commercial  conditions  abroad 
than  is  ordinarily  needed  for  positions  in  this  country.  For  his  legal 
and  diplomatic  duties  the  consul  should  have  also  a  moderate  training 
in  international  law,  the  civil  law,  and  the  commercial  and  industrial 
legislation  of  foreign  countries. 

Positions  in  the  state  department  or  in  the  diplomatic  service 
abroad  demand  essentially  the  same  sort  of  education  as  is  desirable 
for  the  consular  service,  though  here  more  stress  should  be  laid  on  the 
political  and  legal  aspects  and  perhaps  somewhat  less  on  the  economic 
aspect.  These  places  call  for  knowledge  of  the  constitutional  and 
administrative  law  of  the  leading  foreign  countries,  of  their  history, 
and  of  the  actual  spirit  arid  working  of  their  politics  and  institutions. 

Doubtless  this  may  appear  a  rather  discouragingly  high  standard 

(308) 


105 

of  education  for  positions  which  command  no  high  pecuniary  rewards. 
One  cannot  maintain  that  it  is  essential  that  all  the  courses  suggested 
should  be  pursued  in  order  that  the  student  may  secure  appointment 
and  succeed  in  his  work  for  the  government.  Indeed,  as  was  said  at 
the  beginning,  men  who  have  gained  their  knowledge  of  economic 
matters  wholly  outside  of  the  college  may  often  fill  responsible  posi- 
tions with  conspicuous  success.  In  general,  however,  thorough  eco- 
nomic training  will  surely  tend  to  make  a  man  more  fit  than  his  fellows 
for  government  work  in  economic  and  allied  fields.  And  it  is  perhaps 
well  to  set  up  an  ideal  toward  which  to  strive  in  such  training,  however 
far  short  of  attaining  it  we  mav  at  first  fall. 


DISCUSSION 

Dean  David  Kinley 

The  great  difficulty  in  this  country  is,  that  we  have  not  yet  re- 
deemed our  position  in  the  public  service  from  the  clutch  of  the  politician . 
Now  that  state  of  affairs  is  becoming  less  prevalent  from  year  to  year. 
But  the  public  of  the  country,  not  the  economists,  but  the  citizens  of 
the  country,  the  educated  people  of  the  country,  are  the  only  ones  who 
can  redeem  us  from  conditions  of  that  kind.  And  it  will  not  be  until 
that  state  of  affairs  has  passed  away  that  it  will  be  well  worth  our 
while,  generally  throughout  the  country,  to  say  to  young  men,  "there 
is  a  line  of  activity  which  promises  a  career  of  great  success  and 
distinction. " 

I  wish  to  express  my  thanks,  and  the  thanks  of  the  University, 
to  the  gentlemen  who  have  so  kindly  helped  us  in  making  up  the  pro- 
gram, who  have  come  so  far  in  order  to  read  their  papers  and  take 
part  in  the  discussions.  I  wish  to  assure  you  that  we  appreciate  our 
verv  ereat  obligation  to  vou. 


Chairman  Jones 

In  the  name  of  the  visiting  delegates  I  take  the  liberty  of  thanking 
Professor  Kinley,  personally,  for  organizing  this  conference,  and  of 
expressing  our  obligation  to  the  University  of  Illinois  for  bringing  us 
here  and  so  hospitably  caring  for  us  during  the  conference. 


(309) 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 

INSTALLATION 

OF 

Edmund  Janes  James,  Ph.D.,  LL.D. 

AS  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 


PART  IV. 


THE  GENERAL  EXERCISES  OF  THE  WEEK 

October  15-21,  1905 


Edited  by  S.  S.  Colvin,  Ph.  D. 


Price  One  Dollar 


URBANA,  1906 


Copyright  1906 
By  The  University  of  Illinois 


Press  of  The 

Illinois  Printing  Company 

Danville,  Illinois 


.J^ 

1 

n 

1 

\ 

1 

1 

^ 

1 

jf^f:^'" 

1 

. 

«|H 

I 

m 

I^^^^^^HH^K''  '"^      '(^M 

■^HGH 

^^^^H^^^l 

^^^^^^B 

^^^^^Hfi^^^^B 

1 

■ 

■ 

PREFATORY  NOTE 

The  general  exercises  of  the  week  of  the  installation  of  President 
James  began  on  Sunday,  October  15th,  with  special  services  in  the 
churches  of  Champaign  and  Urbana,  and  a  religious  service  at  three 
o'clock,  at  which  the  sermon  was  preached  by  the  Rev.  James  G.  K. 
McClure.  President  of  McCormick  Theological  Seminary. 

On  Monday,  October  16,  occurred  the  dedication  of  the  Woman's 
Building  and  the  University  address  by  Rev.  F.  W.  Gunsaulus.  This 
address  is  withheld  from  publication. 

Tuesday,  October  17,  was  State  and  Nation  day,  and  the  general 
topic  of  the  day's  exercises  was  "The  State  and  Education."  The 
military  reviews  took  place  on  this  day.  In  the  evening  the  English 
Club  presented  the  old  English  play,  Frier  Bacon  and  Frier  Bungay. 

Wednesday  was  inauguration  day.  In  the  morning  occurred  the 
formal  reception  of  delegates  with  the  roll  call  of  representatives  of 
tmiversities,  delegates  from  societies  and  other  bodies,  with  responses 
from  the  representatives  of  a  number  of  such  institutions. 

The  Colleges  of  Medicine  and  Dentistry  and  the  School  of  Phar- 
macy held  their  assemblies  on  the  afternoon  of  Wednesday,  and  were 
addressed  by  Dr.  John  B.  Murphy,  the  eminent  surgeon,  on  "The 
Evolution  of  Surgery." 

After  a  review  of  the  University  regiment  by  the  Governor  of  the 
State,  the  academic  procession  formed  at  half-past  two  and  the  in- 
augural exercises  proper  began  in  the  Armory  at  three  o'clock. 

On  Thursday  assemblies  of  the  various  colleges  were  held. 
The  College  of  Engineering  was  addressed  by  Dean  W.  F.  M.  Goss,  of 
Purdue  University,  on  "The  Student  Engineer;"  the  College  of  Science 
listened  to  an  address  on  "The  Scientific  and  the  Non -scientific, "  by 
Professor  T.  C.  Chamberlain  of  the  University  of  Chicago;  the  College 
of  Agriculture  was  addressed  by  Col.  Charles  F.  Mills,  of  Springfield, 
on  "The  Services  of  Norman  J.  Colman  to  American  Agriculture;" 
the  address  before  the  College  of  Law  was  by  Hon.  J.  McG.  Dickinson 
of  Chicago,  his  subject  being  "International  Arbitration;"  the  College 
of  Literature  and  Arts  and  the  Schools  of  Music  and  Library  Science 
were  addressed  by  Professor  A.  Lawrence  Lowell  of  Harvard  Univer- 
sity, on  "The  Elective  System." 

Other  exercises  of  the  day  were  the  students'  meeting,  and  the 
historical  meeting  in  recognition  of  those  who  have  rendered  distin- 
guished services  to  the  University.  During  these  meetings  the  vari- 
ous conferences  also  held  sessions. 


(315) 


PROGRAM  OF  THE  GENERAL  EXERCISES 
Sunday,  October  15 

10:30   and    11:00   a.m. — Special   services   in   the   churches   of   Champaign   and 

Urbana. 
3  :00  P.M. — Religious  Service  at  the  Armory.      Sermon  by  Reverend  James  G.  K. 

McClure,  President  of  McCormick  Theological  Seminary. 

Monday,  October  16 

2:00  P.M. — Dedication  of  Woman's  Building.  Exercises  in  the  Woman's  Gym- 
nasium. Addresses  by  Dean  James  M.  White;  Hon.  Samuel  A.  BuUard, 
President  of  the  Board  of  Trustees;  President  Edmund  J.  James.  Address  of 
Dedication  by  President  Lilian  W.  Johnson,  of  the  Western  College  for 
Women:  Subject — The  Need  of  the  Day:  a  Correlated  Democratic  Edu- 
cation.     Informal  reception  and  inspection  of  the  building. 

8:00  P.M. — University  Address  At  the  Armory.  Reverend  Frank  W.  Gun- 
saulus,  President  of  Armour  Institute:    Subject — Heroism  of  Scholarship. 

Tuesday,  October  17 

9:00  A.M. — General  Subject:  The  State  and  Education.  At  the  Armory. 
Addresses  by  Hon.  Richard  J.  Barr,  Mayor  of  Joliet;  Hon.  James  Hamilton 
Lewis,  Corporation  Counsel  of  the  City  of  Chicago;  Hon.  Lawrence  Y. 
Sherman,  Lieutenant-Governor  of  Illinois. 

1:15  P.M. — Military  Exercises.  On  Illinois  Field.  Salute  (13  guns)  to  Major- 
General  John  F.  Weston,  of  the  United  States  Army.  Review  of  the  Uni- 
versity Regiment  by  Major-General  Weston. 

2:30  P.M. — Military  Exercises.  At  the  Armory.  The  Military  Training  of  the 
Citizen  Soldier.  Addresses  by  Major-General  Weston;  Lieutenant-Colonel 
Julius  R.  Kline,  of  the  Illinois  National  Guard. 

8:00  P.M. — Presentation  of  Robert  Greene's  Frier  Bacon  and  Frier  Bungay  by 
the  students  of  the  University  at  the  Walker  Opera  House,  Champaign. 

Wednesday,  October  18 

0:00  A.M. — Formal  Reception  of  Delegates.  At  the  Armory.  Address  of  wel- 
come by  Dean  Oliver  A.  Harker.  Roll  call  of  Foreign  Universities;  Roll 
call  of  American  Universities;  Roll  call  of  Learned  Societies  and  Other 
Bodies.  Brief  Addresses  by  Dean  Henry  T.  Bovey,  of  McGill  University, 
for  Foreign  Universities;  President  James  B.  Angell,  of  the  University  of 
Michigan,  for  State  Universities;  President  Ira  Remsen,  of  Johns  Hopkins 
University,  for  Eastern  Universities;  Chancellor  Frank  Strong,  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Kansas,  for  Western  Universities;  President  Edwin  B.  Craighead, 
of  Tulane  University,  for  Southern  Universities;  Dean  Harry  Pratt  Judson, 
of  the  University  of  Chicago,  for  the  Universities  and  Technical  Schools  of 
the  State;  President  Charles  H.  Rammelkamp,  of  Illinois  College,  for  the 
Colleges  of  the  State;  President  John  W.  Cook,  of  the  Northern  Illinois  State 
Normal  School,  for  the  Normal  Schools  of  the  State;  Principal  James  E. 
Arm.strong,  of  the  Englewood  High  School,  for  the  High  Schools  of  the 
State;  State  Superintendent  Alfred  Bayliss,  for  the  Elementary  Schools  of 
the  State. 

10:30  A.M. — Assembly  of  the  Colleges  of  Medicine  and  Dentistry  and  the  School 
of  Pharm.acy.  In  the  Chapel.  Addresses  by  Dr.  Daniel  A.  K.  Steele,  for 
the  College  of  Medicine;  Subject,  Relation  of  the  College  of  Medicine  to  the 
University:  Dean  Bernard  J.  Cigrand,  for  the  College  of  Dentistry;  Subject, 
Dental  Science  and  the  Common  Weal:  Dean  Frederick  M.  Goodman,  for 
the  School  of  Pharmacy.  Address  by  Dr.  John  B.  Murphy,  of  Chicago; 
Subject,  The  Evolution  of  Surgery. 

1:45  p.m. — Military  Exercises.  On  the  Campus.  Salute  (17  guns)  to  the 
Governor  of  the  State;  Salute  (11  guns)  to  the  Adjutant-General  of  the 
State.      Review  of  the  University  Regiment  by  the  Governor  of  the  State. 

2:30  P.M. — Formation  of  the  Academic  Procession. 

(316) 


3:00  p.m. — IxAicuRAi,  ExKRCiSES.  At  the  Armory.  Addresses  by  Hon. 
Charles  S.  Deneen,  Governor  of  Illinois;  Hon.  Samuel  A.  BuUard,  President 
of  the  Board  of  Trustees;  Hon.  Andrew  S.  Draper,  former  President  of  the 
University,  and  Commissioner  of  Education,  State  of  New  York.  Inaugural 
Address  by  President  Edmund  Janes  James.     Conferring  of  Degrees, 

8:00  P.M. — Stxidents'  Torchlight  Parade. 

8:00  to  11:00  p.m. — Official  Reception.      At  the  Armory  and  Gyn^nasium. 

Thl"rsday.  October  14 

9:00  A.M. — Assembly  of  the  College  of  Engineering.  In  the  Chapel.  Address 
by  Dean  W.  F.  M.  Goss,  of  Purdue  University;  Subject,  The  Student  Engi- 
neer. Assembly  of  the  College  of  Science.  In  the  Physics  Lecture  Room. 
Address  bv  Professor  Thomas  C.  Chamberlain,  of  the  University  of  Chicago; 
Subject,  The  Scientific  and  the  Non-Scientitic. 

10:00  A.M. — Assembly  of  the  College  of  Agriculture.  In  Morrow  Hall.  Address 
bv  Colonel  Charles  F.  Mills,  of  Springfield;  Subject,  The  Services  of  Norman 
y.  Colman  to  American  Agriculture.  Assembly  of  the  College  of  Law.  At 
the  Law  Building.  Address  by  Mr.  Jacob  McG.  Dickinson,  General  Counsel, 
Illinois  Central  R.  R.  Co.,  Chicago;  Subject,  International  Arbitration. 

11 :00  A.M. — Assemblv  of  the  College  of  Literature  and  Arts,  and  the  Schools  of 
Music  and  Library  Science.  In  the  Chapel.  Address  by  Professor  A. 
Lawrence  Lowell,  of  Harvard  University;  Subject,  The  Elective  System. 

2:00  p.  M. — Students'  Meeting.  At  the  Armory.  Addresses  by  distinguished 
guests  of  the  University. 

1 :00  to  4:00  p.  M. — Inspection  of  University  Buildings  and  Grounds. 

4:00  p.  M. — Historical  Meeting.  General  Subject:  Recognition  of  those  who 
have  rendered  distinguished  services  to  the  University.  In  the  Chapel. 
Addresses  by  President  Edmund  J.  James;  Hon.  Emory  Cobb  of  Kankakee 
and  Judge  Joseph  O.  Cunningham  of  Urbana,  former  members  of  the  Board 
of  Trustees;  Mr.  Henry  M.  Beardsley,  of  Kansas  City,  Mo.,  and  Professor 
Arthur  N.  Talbot,  alumni  of  the  University;  Professors  S.  W.  Shattuck,  N. 
C.  Ricker  and  T.  J.  Burrill. 


(317) 


Sunday,  October  15 

RELIGIOUS  SERVICES  AT  THE  ARMORY 

PROGRAM 

Hymn:     Duke  Street. 

Scripture  Reading:     The  Reverend  Charles  M.  Stuart,  D.D.,  Professor 

in  Garrett  Biblical  Institute. 
Solo:     Mr.  Benjamin  W.  Breneman. 
Prayer:     The  Reverend  Doctor  Stuart. 
Hymn:     America. 
Sermon:     The   Reverend  James  G.  K.  McClure,   D.D..   President  of 

McCormick  Theological  Seminary. 
Doxology. 
Benediction:     The  Reverend  A.  J.  Wagner,  Pastor  of  Saint  Mary's 

Roman  Catholic  Church,  Champaign. 


THE  SUMMARY  OF  RELIGION  AS  EXPRESSED  IN  LOVE  TO 
GOD  AND  TO  MAN 

The  Reverend  James  G.  K.  McClure,  D.D. 

President  of  McCormick  Theological  Seminary,  Chicago 

Text:  Luke  10:  27.  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all 
thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul  and  with  all  thy  strength,  and  with  all 
thy  mind :    and  thy  neighbor  as  thyself. 

The  appropriateness  of  this  religious  service  to  the  great  week  on 
which  the  University  of  Illinois  is  entering  needs  no  proof.  The 
appropriateness  is  universally  acknowledged.  Our  civilization  as  a 
nation  is  built  upon  the  recognition  of  a  personal  God,  through  Whom 
life  is  given  and  supported,  and  to  Whom  every  soul  is  responsible. 
Our  history  as  a  State  is  croweded  with  the  recognition  of  God,  for 
Illinois  upon  all  its  large  occasions  has  never  hesitated  to  bare  the 
head  and  the  heart  in  the  Divine  Presence  and  seek  God's  gracious 
favor.  Education,  too,  rejoices  in  acknowledging  the  Most  Wise,  for 
education  can  have  no  greater  mission  than  to  discover  the  thoughts 
of  God  as  expressed  in  the  laws  of  physical  nature  and  in  the  workings 
of  the  human  mind,  and  then  to  apply  God's  thoughts  to  the  welfare 
of  the  individual,  the  nation  and  the  race. 

In  this  University  of  Illinois  may  religion  be  a  spur  to  study,  an 
inspiration  to  research :  mav  it  put  eagerness  into  the  hearts  and 
minds  of  all  investigators:  may  it  cause  scholars  to  follow  light, 
wherever  light  leads,  with  unflagging  interest  and  devotion:    may  it 

(31S) 


glorify  every  detail  of  investigation  because  such  investigation  deals 
with  truth — with  truth  that,  whatever  its  parts,  is  one  truth — with 
truth  that  in  any  and  in  every  manifestaiton  is  a  declaration  of  God! 
Religion  today  and  always  would  lift  its  hand  in  benediction  and  say  to 
everv  student :  Prosecute  your  search.  Do  your  work.  Only  remember 
that  truth,  whether  in  physics,  chemistry,  or  philosophy,  is  sacred — is 
of  God.  Therefore  take  the  shoes  from  off  your  feet  and  stand  in  awe. 
You  are  on  holy  ground.  Let  not  pride  in  the  discovered,  let  not  dis- 
dain toward  the  undiscovered,  let  not  haughtiness  toward  predeces- 
sors be  vours.  But  humbly,  earnestly,  reverently  press  on  in  the 
work  God  delights  to  have  you  do — the  work  of  uncovering  and  dis- 
closing the  thoughts  of  the  Most  High.  Surely  the  scholar  who  can 
in  anv  wise  make  God  better  known  must  be  very  dear  to  the  heart  of 
God!' 

I  am  to  speak  to  you  now  concerning  this  God  and  concerning 
what  we  call  His  religion  We  never  can  be  too  thankful  that  when 
Christ  was  upon  earth.  He  was  asked  a  question  that  gave  Him  op- 
portunity to  state — in  a  sentence — what  this  religion  is  that  the  world 
calls  Christianity,  the  religion  of  the  God  and  Father  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ.  He  summed  it  up  in  two  statements  that  so  correlate 
and  complete  one  another  that  they  virtually  are  one  statement — 
when  He  declared  that  religion  is  the  loving  of  the  God  revealed  as 
Almighty  Creator  and  Blessed  Protector,  with  all  our  powers  of  heart, 
mind,  soul  and  strength,  and  the  loving  of  our  fellowman  as  we  love 
ourselves. 

After  years  of  study  of  the  Bible  and  of  human  society  I  do  not 
hestitate  to  say  that  that  summary  expresses  the  essence  of  religion — 
that  the  living  of  that  summary  solves  every  problem  of  human  wel- 
fare, rejuvenating  the  individual  and  saving  the  race.  God  is  glad 
with  the  gladness  of  satisfaction  when  that  summary  becomes  the 
theor\'  and  the  practice  of  life.  There  are  hundreds  of  aids  provided 
to  assist  us  in  the  carrying  out  of  this  summary,  the  aids  of  the  Scrip- 
ture, the  Church  and  History — aids  that  vary  in  importance  from 
least  to  greatest:  but  the  aids  are  not  the  essence  itself — the  essence 
is  devoted  love  towards  God  Himself  and  toward  man.  When  we 
live  that  essence  we  fulfil  the  supreme  requirement  of  existence ;  when 
we  live  it  we  most  develop  ourselves,  we  most  bless  others  and  we 
most  please  God. 

The  first  distinguishing  characteristic  of  our  rehgion  is  its  spiritual- 
ity. Our  rehgion  primarily  is  not  a  matter  of  the  hand,  the  mouth, 
the  foot — ^but  of  inner  sentiment,  named  love.  Our  religion  never 
exists  until  love  exists.  The  saying  of  prayers,  by  the  lips  or  by  the 
machine ;  the  giving  of  the  body  to  be  burned ;  the  sounding  of  declara- 
tions of  devotion;  the  bestowing  of  all  our  goods  to  feed  the  poor; 
pilgrimages,  ceremonies,  creeds,  sacrifices — these  are  not  the  essence 

(319) 


10 

of  our  religion ;  the  essence  of  our  religion  is  a  hidden  thing,  unreachable 
to  foot  or  hand;  the  life  may  not  touch  it,  the  eye  may  not  see  it;  a 
hidden  thing  that  lies  away  back  in  the  recesses  of  being;  an  imper- 
ceptible, intangible,  unweighable  spirit, — it  is  love.  No  man,  no 
church,  no  society,  has  our  religion  unless  it  has  love.  Whatever  may 
be  paraded  before  the  world  as  our  religion  is  not  our  religion  unless 
at  the  center  as  its  dominant  and  all-pervading  force  is  love.  Our 
religion  is -not  material,  it  is  spiritual :    it  is  not  a  form,  it  is  a  motive. 

The  second  characteristic  of  our  religion  is  the  nature  of  its  spiritu- 
ality. That  nature  is  not  destructive,  but  constructive;  its  element 
is  not  the  hurtful,  but  the  helpful;  its  source  is  not  hate,  but  love. 

Love  is  the  strongest  sentiment  possible  to  the  spirit  of  man.  It 
is  an  upbuilding  sentiment.  True  love  to  another  is  loyalty  to 
another's  highest  interests.  There  cannot  be  love  when  there  is 
intention  to  harm.  The  libertine  who  plots  ruin  to  virtue  is  not  a 
lover  of  man  or  woman;  he  is  a  hater:  he  is  inflamed,  not  with  the 
light  of  heaven,  but  with  the  fires  of  hell.  Love  always  and  every- 
where seeks  the  advancement  and  benefit,  the  security  and  welfare  of 
him  for  whom  it  is  cherished.  It  is  a  life-giving  stream,  it  is  a  flower 
of  joy,  it  is  a  sunbeam  brightening  darkness.  Where  love  comes, 
protection  comes,  and  cheer  comes,  and  benediction  comes.  To  love 
is  to  bless. 

What  power  there  is  in  love!  How  the  love  of  knowledge  in  Dar- 
win sent  him  up  and  down  the  earth,  through  wind  and  wave,  to 
ascertain  all  the  facts  possible  to  scientific  research.  How  the  love  of 
country  made  Washington  willing  to  risk  property  and  life,  and  made 
Lincoln  ready  to  bear  burden  and  misunderstanding.  How  the  love 
of  Africa  put  Livingstone  into  the  wilds  of  the  forests  and  made  him 
brave  to  investigate,  and  to  die.  How  the  love  of  a  mother  for  her 
child  causes  her  to  pass  sleepless  nights  without  murmur  as  she  bends 
over  the  couch  of  fever.  Love!  It  has  been  the  tremendous  force  of 
human  development.  It  is  the  passion  of  passions.  Love  kept  pure 
and  true  to  its  nature,  has  given  the  world  its  most  glorious  deeds  of 
history.  The  awful  wreckage  caused  by  impure  and  untrue  passion, 
the  direct  opposite  to  love,  tells  what  occurs  when  an  angel  falls  from 
loftiest  heights  to  lowest  deeps.  Love  is  the  actuating  motive  of  the 
highest  endeavor,  love  it  is  that  has  caused  the  wildness  to  blossom 
and  the  desert  to  become  a  garden. 

This  sublime  sentiment,  implanted  in  every  life,  a  very  part  of 
that  life  as  much  as  the  capacity  to  breathe  is  a  part  of  that  life,  has 
its  perfect  play  only  when  it  lays  hold  of  every  inner  power — heart, 
mind,  soul  and  strength — and  uses  them  all  in  its  helpful  service. 
That  there  are  different  powers  in  our  spiritual  being  we  are  conscious. 
There  is  a  heart,  the  power  that  knows  joy  and  grief,  that  greets  the 
bright  with  gladness  and  grows  heavy  before  the  gloomy.     When  the 

(320) 


11 

heart  is  strong,  how  brave  we  are.  and  when  the  heart  is  weak,  how 
courage  fails.  The  heart!  Every  one  who  has  had  a  dear  parent  or 
has  himself  become  a  parent,  every  one  who  has  faced  dangers  and 
passed  through  scenes  of  gladness  knows  that  he  has  a  heart.  Then, 
too,  there  is  a  mind  within  us,  an  intellect,  a  cooler  element  than  the 
heart,  less  emotional,  more  judicious,  more  inclined  to  weigh  evidence. 
When  that  mind  examines  and  approves,  there  comes  conviction. 
The  mind  is  different  from  the  heart — the  heart  of  the  father  loves  his 
prodigal  bov,  it  goes  out  to  him  in  tenderness,  but  the  mind  of  the 
father  cannot  love  the  prodigal  because  the  father  cannot  approve  the 
prodigal's  Hfe  and  deeds.  When  at  last  the  boy  becomes  a  changed 
man,  becomes  humble  and  penitent,  then  the  mind  of  the  father  can 
love  the  bov  because  it  approves  of  the  boy.  Besides  heart  and  mind 
there  is  also  a  soul  within  us,  an  unseen  something  that  gives  us  the 
capacitv  of  spirit-fellowship  with  others — that  makes  us  understand 
what  we  call  "The  Communion  of  Kindred  Souls."  It  deals  with 
friendship  and  all  that  has  part  in  friendship.  It  is  the  highest  ele- 
ment of  our  being,  because  as  we  stand  before  some  mighty  expression 
of  God  in  nature,  as  the  Grand  Canyon  of  the  Colorado,  the  soul 
becomes  conscious  that  it  is  dealing  with  the  sublime,  the  almighty. 
The  soul  is  the  most  weighty  element  within  us,  and  a  man  is  never  a 
saved  man  until  his  soul  is  made  able  to  fellowship  with  the  best  of 
earth  and  of  heaven.  In  addition  to  heart,  mind  and  soul,  there 
is  still  one  other  element  within  us,  an  element  that  is  more  an  at- 
mosphere about  the  heart,  mind  and  soul  than  a  distinct  faculty — 
the  element  that  adds  strength,  and  vigor  to  heart,  mind  and  soul.  It 
is  the  glow,  the  fervor,  the  enthusiasm  of  our  spiritual  nature.  We 
are  just  as  convinced  that  there  is  such  an  atmosphere  as  we  are  con- 
vinced of  our  being;  it  expresses  itself  when  the  heart  throbs  with 
energv,  when  the  mind  is  intense,  when  the  spirit  is  inflamed,  it  is  the 
strength,  the  enthusiasm  of  our  being. 

Our  rehgion  calls  upon  us  to  love  God  with  all  our  heart,  mind, 
soul  and  strength!  What  a  demand  upon  love  that  is!  It  is  an  ex- 
haustive demand,  a  demand  that  our  whole  spiritual  nature  with 
absolute  loyalty  devote  itself  to  God! 

The  question  immediately  arises  is  God  such  an  one  that  we  can  be 
true  to  our  natures  and  thus  love  Him?  It  is  a  fact  of  history  that  no 
other  god  than  the  God  and  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  ever  dared 
to  make  such  a  claim  on  man's  love.  We  search  the  lists  of  divinities 
known  among  Assyrians,  Egyptians.  Grecians  and  Romans,  and  we 
do  not  find  one  divinity  asking  his  worshipers  to  love  him  with  all  the 
heart  and  mind,  and  soul  and  enthusiasm.  Every  divinity  known  in 
the  ancient  world  had  infirmities:  he  was  mean,  or  cruel  or  impure. 
Unreserved  love  for  any  one  of  them  was  a  rational  impossibility. 
Gods  Hke  Jupiter  said,  "Sacrifice  to  me;"  and  like  Diana  said,  "Bring 

(321) 


12 

me  your  gifts;"  and  like  Bacchus  said,  "Drink  to  me."  But  as  for 
asking  for  love,  pure,  true,  absolute  love,  they  never  thought  of  such 
a  thing.  It  would  have  been  folly  for  Moloch,  who  desired  parents  to 
throw  their  infants  into  his  arms  of  fire,  to  have  asked  parents  to  love 
him.  They  could  not  think  of  him  and  of  his  horrid  worship  without 
shrinking  from  him;  ves,  and  without  hating  him.  He  was  the  enemy 
of  their  homes  and  of  their  family  happiness. 

Suppose  a  man  who  has  known  the  god  Bacchus  for  many  years 
and  has  been  his  devoted  worshiper  until  now  he  is  a  debauchee,  with 
injured  reputation,  injured  brain  and  injured  character,  is  told  that 
he  should  love  Bacchus,  what  will  he  say?  Love  Bacchus,  who  has 
been  the  means  of  his  disgrace,  his  sorrow  and  his  ruin!  He  cannot 
do  it.  Bacchus  is  his  foe,  his  smiling  but  relentless  foe,  who  laughs 
over  the  misery  he  has  wrought.  Bacchus  is  a  debased  creature, 
beyond  the  power  of  reform,  bent  on  harm. 

Ask  the  young  woman  who  has  thrown  herself  at  the  feet  of  Cybele 
and  has  surrendered  to  Cybele's  will  until  she  has  sacrificed  all  her  in- 
stinctive ideas  of  purity  and  is  shunned  as  an  outcast,  to  love  Cybele, 
to  love  the  god  that  dragged  her  down  from  her  pedestal  of  sanctity 
and  placed  her  amid  filth,  to  love  her  destroyer.  She  may  still  obey 
Cybele,  she  may  go  lower,  lower  as  she  obeys,  but  love  Cybele!  As 
well  may  you  ask  a  mother  to  love  the  disease  that  takes  from  her  her 
babv  child,  or  the  father  to  love  the  assassin  that  murders  his  son.  No 
heathen  gods,  neither  in  olden  times  nor  in  modern  times,  aware  of 
their  wrong  traits,  can  ever  come  to  human  beings  and  say:  "Love  us 
with  all  your  heart,  mind,  soul  and  strength."  They  might  as  well 
tell  the  sun  in  the  skies  to  move  eastward.  Man's  true  nature  must 
be  stultified  to  love  the  unlovable. 

The  fact  may  well  impress  us  that  one  God,  and  only  one,  dares 
ask  for  man's  unqualified  love.  Who  is  this  God  that  thus  differenti- 
ates Himself  from  all  others  and  makes  this  unparalleled  claim  ? 

He  is  a  God  who  takes  a  very  large  conception  of  man's  heart, 
mind,  soul  and  strength.  Man  may  be  indeed  very  frail  beside  His 
almightiness  and  brief  beside  His  lastingness.  Man  may  be  very 
ignorant  beside  His  knowledge  and  very  lacking  beside  His  wholeness, 
but  man  can  think  thoughts  as  long  as  the  being  of  God ;  man  can  pass 
judgment  on  God  Himself;  man  can  say  "  no  "  to  the  very  will  of  Heav- 
en's King,  or  man  can  acquiesce  with  that  will  and  put  himself  into 
vital  connection  with  the  Eternal.  God  credits  man  with  infinite 
longings;  with  limitless  capacities;  with  desires  far  outreaching  ac- 
complishment. God  knows  that  as  man  advances  in  achievement  he 
advances  in  aspiration;  that  as  the  race  moves  forward  its  ethical 
ideas  enlarge;  that  man  is  always  cherishing  higher  and  higher  con- 
ceptions of  the  Perfect. 

And  still  God  does  not  hesitate  to  present  Himself  to  man,  this 

(322) 


13 

wonderful  man,  and  ask  for  his  absolute  and  enthusiastic  devotion. 
Who  is  He  that  He  dares  make  this  claim?  He  Himself  answers  our 
question  and  tells  us  that  there  are  three  ways  in  which  He  would  be 
glad  to  be  studied  and  judged.     One  is  the  way  of  His  creation. 

The  word  "God"  in  this  summary  is  the  word  used  when  it  is  said: 
"In  the  beginning  God  created  the  heavens  and  the  earth."  That 
creation,  comprehending  physical  nature  and  man,  is  a  revelation  of 
marvelous  skill  and  goodness.  God  says,  "Hold  Me  responsible  for 
everything  in  the  world  excepting  sin  and  its  ravages.  Look  at  the 
heavens,  at  the  oceans,  at  the  plants,  at  man  untainted  bv  sin,  and 
see  My  power  and  My  intelligence.  Take  the  telescope  and  search 
into  the  limitless  where  I  reign;  take  the  microscope  and  penetrate 
into  the  infinitesimal  where  I  am  King."  "I  am  willing,"  God  says, 
"to  have  judgment  passed  on  My  might  and  skill  in  creation.  " 

There  is  a  second  way  in  which  God  would  have  us  see  him.  It  is 
the  way  of  His  Providence. 

The  word  "Lord"  used  in  this  summary  is  the  word  used  when 
God,  having  pitied  a  people  in  Egyptian  bondage,  delivered  them, 
and  at  Sinai  as  Redeemer,  Jehovah,  gave  laws  for  man's  place  and 
power.  Immediately,  through  that  revelation,  we  behold  His  interest 
in  the  affairs  of  man  and  we  catch  a  glimpse  of  His  ethical  character. 
We  see  Him  as  one  who  sympathizes  with  sorrow  and  need,  as  one 
who  raises  up  a  Moses;  we  see  Him  also  through  a  Holy  of  Holies  at 
the  center  of  a  life  of  a  chosen  people,  a  Holv  of  Holies  because  Jehovah 
of  all  the  gods  of  earth  is  a  spotless  God,  and  we  see  Him  through  a 
"mercy  seat"  in  that  Holy  of  Holies,  because  Jehovah,  of  all  the  gods 
of  earth,  is  a  forgiving  God,  and  we  see  this  God.  holy  and  forgiving, 
as  man's  friend  and  helper  and  protector  and  bountiful  benefactor. 
God  of  Providence!  He  has  a  purpose,  a  purpose  that  cannot  be 
thwarted,  and  it  is  of  love.  He  has  standards  for  man,  and  they 
always  aim  for  man's  best  good  and  largest  happiness.  He  has 
responsibilities  for  every  one,  that  are  always  fitted  to  our  frame,  day 
and  place.  He  never  forgets  His  people.  He  is  grieved  in  their  grief; 
He  is  burdened  with  their  burdens.  He  is  a  fair  God,  who  shapes  His 
every  requirement  of  man  according  to  the  possibilities  of  the  indi- 
vidual and  the  aid  He  Himself  imparts. 

God  would  have  us  see  Himself  also  through  the  person  of  the 
historic  Christ.  He  says,  "While  it  is  creation  that  shows  My  power, 
and  Providence  that  shows  My  general  character,  it  is  Christ  that 
shows  My  innermost  being.  As  you  see  Christ  healing  humanity's 
diseases  and  relieving  humanity's  needs  you  see  what  My  heart  craves. 
As  you  hear  Him  speak  of  hope,  and  comfort,  and  friendship,  and  par- 
don, and  eternal  life,  you  hear  what  I  wait  to  give.  As  you  see  Him 
giving  Himself  to  the  cross  you  see  the  last  and  greatest  proof  of  My 
desire  that  all  sin  be  overpowered  and  mankind  brought  into  very 

(323) 


14 

sonship  with  God.  And  then  as  you  see  Christ  moving  forward 
through  the  Christian  centuries,  in  all  the  progress  of  human  benefi- 
cence and  human  advance,  you  see  what  I  long  to  do  for  men.  I,  the 
Almighty,  pure  and  loving,  would  have  this  whole  world  blessed  with 
peace  and  cheer  and  holiness.  I  would  have  slavery  abolished,  in- 
temperance cured,  cruelty  banished,  licentiousness  blotted  out.  I 
would  have  liberty,  and  self-control,  and  kindness,  and  purity  everv- 
where  prevail.  I  would  have  hospitals,  and  courts  of  justice,  and 
schools  of  knowledge,  and  congresses  of  peace.  I  would  have  beauty, 
and  happiness,  and  holiness  glorify  the  earth. " 

It  is  such  a  God  we  are  asked  to  love.  What  shall  be  the  expression 
of  our  love?  It  may  be  in  words  of  adoration.  There  have  been  men 
who  have  studied  the  revelation  of  God  and  companioned  in  the  spirit 
with  God  until  the  strongest  words  of  affection  they  might  use  could 
not  indicate  too  great  devotion  to  Him.  Xavier,  the  missionary  to 
India,  who  labored  unsparingly  for  all  whom  he  could  reach  with  his 
message,  wrote: 

"My  God,  I  love  Thee  not  because 

I  hope  for  heaven  thereby ; 
Nor  yet  because  who  love  Thee  not 

Must  die  eternally. 
Not  with  the  hope  of  gaining  ought. 

Not  seeking  a  reward ; 
But  as  Thyself  has  loved  me, 

O,  ever-living  Lord, 
E'en  so  I  love  Thee  and  will  love 

And  in  Thy  praise  will  sing 
Solely  because  Thou  art  my  God, 

And  my  Eternal  King." 
On  the  dim  graves  of  the  Catacombs  beneath  the  streets  of  ancient 
Rome  the  worshipers  often  sketched  a  deer,  a  panting  hart  of  the 
woods.  It  was  as  though  they  said,  "As  the  hart  panteth  after 
the  water  brooks,  so  panteth  my  soul  after  Thee,  O  God.  My  soul  is 
athirst  for  God.  Yea,  even  for  the  living  God.  When  shall  I  come 
and  appear  before  God?"  Augustine  wrote,  "O  my  God,  Thou  are 
my  life,  my  joy,  my  holy,  dear  delight."  Ignatius  said  to  those  who 
were  putting  him  to  death,  "You  may  part  my  heart  into  a  thousand 
pieces  and  on  every  one  of  them  you  will  find  in  letters  of  gold  the  dear 
name  of  God.  "  It  is  told  of  St.  Thomas  of  Aquinas  that  when  Christ 
appeared  to  him  in  a  vision  and  said,  "Thomas,  you  have  written  well 
of  Me.  What  reward  do  you  wish?"  Thomas  replied,  "No  other 
gift  than  Thyself,  O  God." 

There  have  been  men — and  their  number  is  legion — to  whom  God 
has  been  their  all.  The  contemplation  of  Him  has  grown  to  be  their 
absorbing  thought.     They  could  understand  the  legend  of  St.  Theresa 

(324) 


15 

and  her  dream.  In  her  dream  she  saw  an  angel — an  angel  who  had  in 
one  hand  a  curtain  and  in  the  other  a  shell  of  water.  She  inquired  the 
purpose  of  the  curtain  and  of  the  shell  full  of  water.  The  angel  re- 
plied that  with  the  curtain  he  meant  to  hide  the  sight  of  heaven  and 
with  the  water  he  meant  to  quench  liell,  that  men  seeing  neither 
heaven  nor  hell  might  learn  to  love  God  for  Himself  alone.  Surely 
Frederick  Dennison  Maurice  had  caught  this  same  love  of  God  when 
as  he  lay  dying,  and  friends  spoke  to  him  of  the  termination  of  his  work, 
he  answered  rejoicingly,  "No,  I  am  going  where  I  may  declare  God 
forever." 

Love  for  God  mav  also  tind  expression  in  deeds.  To  hate  every 
evil  thing,  to  battle  down  the  wrongs  of  human  life,  to  take  one's 
stand  upon  the  side  of  the  brave,  the  true,  the  pure,  the  real — that  is 
to  love  God.  Manv  a  man  who  never  becomes  capable  of  rapturous 
words  concerning  God,  may  scatter  deeds  of  kindness,  may  bind  up 
hearts  that  are  broken,  may  relieve  the  distressed,  and  may  be  faithful 
at  the  post  of  duty  that  has  been  divinely  assigned  him — and  he  too  is 
a  lover  of  God.  The  deeds  of  beneficence  inspired  by  this  love  are  as 
widespread  as  the  knowledge  of  God  has  gone.  These  deeds  are  the 
benisons  of  the  centuries.  Love  toward  God  has  been  the  source  and 
spring  of  humanity's  greatest  advances. 

Our  religion,  however,  besides  love  toward  God,  has  the  additional 
element  of  love  toward  man.  We  are  not  asked  to  love  man  with  all  our 
heart,  and  mind,  and  soul,  and  strength,  but  we  are  asked  to  love  man 
"as"  we  love  ourselves.  "As"  refers  to  manner,  not  to  degree.  In 
the  same  manner  that  we  love  ourselves — the  manner  of  desiring  and 
seeking  our  real  welfare,  we  are  to  love  our  fellowmen.  This  then  is 
what  our  religion  asks  in  its  practical  application  toward  our  fellows 
— that  we  do  evervthing  within  our  power  to  help  them,  that  we  be 
patient  with  them,  that  we  sympathize  with  them,  that  we  labor  for 
them,  that  w^e  practice  self-denial  for  them,  and  that  we  make  their 
uplifting  the  end  and  object  of  our  lives.  What  could  be  a  higher 
practical  expression  of  a  religion  than  this — that  we  aim  as  definitely 
and  as  positively,  as  we  aim  at  our  individual  self-advancement,  at  the 
advancement  of  others — that  we  pass  by  lines  of  demarcation,  as  of 
Jew  and  Samaritan,  Greek  and  Barbarian,  black  and  white,  and  we 
seek  the  comfort,  the  education,  the  elevation  of  man.  How  can  a 
religion  rise  higher  than  the  religion  which  sets  before  the  spirit  devo- 
tion to  the  highest  ideal  of  character  and  before  the  conduct  devotion 
to  the  highest  welfare  of  society.  There  never  has  been  a  religion 
comparable  to  ours;  there  never  can  be  a  religion  superior  to  ours. 
Man  cannot  imagine  a  nobler  Being  than  God,  man  cannot  imagine  a 
nobler  purpose  than  the  perfect  redemption  of  the  human  race. 

And  is  this  our  religion  ?  May  we  stand  on  the  housetops  and  pro- 
claim it  as  our  rehgion?     We  may.     We  may  shout  our  joy  in  it: 

(325) 


16 

we  may  sound  its  praises  far  as  voice  will  carry :  we  may  go  forth  to 
every  obligation  of  life  cheered  and  ennobled  by  it.  Most  wonderfully 
it  directs  the  attention  of  our  inner  being  first  to  God  and  then  to  man. 
It  lifts  before  us  one  who  created  all  that  we  see  and  handle.  One  who 
Himself  unites  absolute  holiness  and  infinite  pity.  One  who  loves 
needy  humanity  with  a  love  that  makes  the  costliest  sacrifice  even 
His  infinite  nature  can  provide  none  too  costly  for  a  world's  salvation. 
It  says,  "First  of  all  in  life,  study  this  God,  study  Him  until  His  beauty 
becomes  clear  to  you,  study  Him  until  you  feel  that  His  ideals  must 
be  your  ideals  and  His  wishes  must  be  your  wishes."  Then  it  says, 
"With  those  wishes  of  God  for  you  and  for  others  flowing  through 
your  being,  do  you  devote  yourself  to  the  welfare  of  your  brothers. " 
It  argues  that  the  more  we  love  God  the  more  we  shall  love  man,  the 
more  we  gaze  upon  God  the  more  we  shall  be  made  like  God,  and 
being  like  Him  the  more  we  shall  love  man,  even  as  Christ,  God's 
supreme  representative,  loved  man — and  in  that  love  died  for  man. 

What  is  to  be  the  future  of  this  religion?  A  future  evermore 
glorious.  It  sometimes  seems  as  though  we  had  not  understood 
what  our  religion  is.  We  have  been  in  danger  of  magnifying  some 
adjunct,  supposed  by  us  to  be  necessary  to  its  preservation,  while  we 
have  forgotten  that  its  essence  is  invulnerable  and  eternal.  Like 
Uzzah  we  have  put  out  our  hand  to  stay  the  ark,  when  God  Himself 
will  take  care  of  the  ark. 

It  is  impossible  for  any  thoughtful  man  to  imagine  that  this  relig- 
ion can  ever  die.  So  long  as  man  lasts,  here  is  the  ultimate  ideal  of 
his  being — the  ultimate  ideal  of  his  usefulness  and  of  his  happiness — 
the  ultimate  ideal  of  the  development  of  the  individual  and  of  the  race. 

Let  learning  run  as  fast  as  it  can  in  the  ways  of  investigation.  Let 
all  the  principles  and  all  the  facts  of  every  branch  of  knowledge  be 
learned.  Let  the  lamp  of  study  bum  long  into  the  night,  let  the 
laboratories  press  their  searches  farther  and  still  farther,  let  all  the 
problems  of  individuals,  homes,  cities  and  nations  be  scrutinized  in 
every  detail — God  will  delight  in  every  forward  movement  that  un- 
covers Him — for  God  cannot  be  uncovered  before  the  sight  of  normal 
men  without  being  made  wonderful,  beautiful,  adorable. 

Oh  for  a  tongue  to  speak  His  praise!     Every  voice  within  us,  voice 
of  heart,  voice  of  mind,  voice  of  soul  and  voice  of  strength,  cry  out: 
"We  praise  Thee,  0  God,  we  acknowledge  Thee  to  be  the  Lord. 
All  the  earth  doth  worship  Thee,  the  Father  everlasting, 
And  we  worship  Thy  name  ever,  world  without  end. " 


(326) 


17 


MoxDAv,  October  16 
DEDICATION  OF  THE  WOMAN'S  BUILDING 
PROGRAM 

EXERCISES  IX  THE  WOMAN's  GYMNASIUM 

The  President  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  and  the  President  of  the  University 

Presiding 

Trio:  Lift  Thine  Eyes  (Elijah).  Mendelssohn;  Mrs.  Breneman,  Miss 
Busey,  Miss  Lange. 

Address:  Transferring  the  Building  to  the  Trustees;  Acting  Dean 
James  M.  White,  of  the  College  of  Engineering,  representing  the 
Architects. 

Response  and  Address:  Committing  the  Building  to  the  Immediate 
Care  of  the  President  of  the  University ;  The  President  of  the  Board 
of  Trustees. 

Response:     The  President  of  the  University. 

Music:  Robin  Adair,  Dudley  Buck;  The  University  of  Illinois  Wo- 
man's Glee  Club. 

Address  of  Dedication:  The  Need  of  the  Day:  a  Correlated  Demo- 
cratic Education;  President  Lilian  Wyckoff  Johnson,  of  the  West- 
em  College  for  Women. 

Prayer  of  Dedication:  The  Reverend  Frank  Wakeley  Gunsaulus, 
President  of  Armour  Institute. 

Trio;  The  Smiling  Morn,  Hcendel;  Mrs.  Breneman,  Miss  Busey,  Miss 
Lange. 

Reception  in  the  Club  Rooms,  and  Inspection  of  the  Building. 


ADDRESS  TRANSFERRING  THE  BUILDING  TO  THE 
TRUSTEES 

James  M.  White,  B.S. 
Dean  of  the  College  of  Engineering 

This  building  which  we  today  formally  occupy  for  the  first  time 
was  designed  by  McKim,  Mead  and  White  of  New  York  City.  There 
stand  to  their  credit  many  beautiful  buildings,  two  of  which,  the 
Boston  public  library  and  the  Columbia  University  library,  take  rank 
with  the  ten  finest  architectural  monuments  in  this  country.  They 
designed  all  of  the  buildings  at  Columbia  University  and  at  the  uni- 
versities of  Virginia  and  New  York  and  have  buildings  on  many 
other  campuses.  Among  the  other  noted  structures  which  they  have 
erected  are  the  New  York  Herald  building,  Madison  Square  Garden, 
the  Rhode  Island  state  capitol,  the  agricultural  and  New  York  state 

(327) 


18 

buildings  at  the  World's  Columbian  Exposition,  and  the  Washington 
arch. 

Mr.  Charles  Pollen  McKim  was  a  student  at  Harvard  Scientific 
School  and  the  Ecole  des  Beaux  Arts.  Beginning  practice  in  1872, 
he  was  joined  in  partnership  by  William  R.  Mead  in  1877  and  by  Stan- 
ford White  in  1879.  In  1903  he  was  awarded  the  royal  gold  medal  by 
King  Edward  for  the  promotion  of  architecture.  Mr.  McKim  was 
president  of  the  American  Institute  of  Architects  at  the  time  he  ac- 
cepted the  commission  to  design  this  building. 

Mr.  Wilham  Rutherford  Mead,  a  brother  of  Larkin  G.  Mead,  the 
sculptor,  was  graduated  at  Amherst  College  in  1867,  and  received  the 
degree  of  LL.D.  in  1902.  He  studied  architecture  with  Russell  Stur- 
gis,  Jr.,  of  New  York,  and  for  two  years  abroad. 

Mr.  Stanford  White  was  educated  at  the  University  of  New  York, 
but  received  his  architectural  training  with  Charles  D.  Gambrill  and 
H.  H.  Richardson,  being  the  chief  assistant  of  the  latter  in  the  con- 
struction of  Trinity  church,  Boston.  He  has  also  traveled  and 
studied  extensively  in  Europe. 

Of  no  other  architectural  firm  in  this  country  can  so  much  be  said 
in  as  few  words. 

Their  success  has  been  due  in  no  small  measure  to  their  appreciation 
of  the  fact  that  the  architecture  of  a  building  should  always  be  in 
harmony  with  its  purpose.  Greek  architecture  attained  its  climax  in 
the  temple,  Gothic  and  Romanesque  in  the  cathedral,  and  Renaissance 
in  the  palace.  Having  been  conceived  and  perfected  with  reference 
to  a  particular  class  of  building,  these  styles  are  therefore  difficult  of 
adaptation  to  modern  buildings,  and  yet  most  laymen  and  many 
architects  are  wholly  lacking  in  their  appreciation  of  the  appropriate 
places  in  which  each  of  the  several  historic  styles  may  be  used. 

This  building  is  in  the  style  termed  colonial,  but  more  exactly 
speaking  it  is  the  Georgian  style,  which  was  developed  in  England 
during  the  reign  of  the  Georges,  when  the  people  were  striving  to 
develop  domestic  pursuits, — the  arts  of  peace  instead  of  war.  Presi- 
dent Draper  appreciated  the  appropriateness  of  employing  this  style, 
and  because  he  knew  that  McKim,  Mead  and  White  were  pre-eminent 
in  their  mastery  of  it,  he  exerted  his  influence  to  persuade  them  to 
accept  the  commission  to  design  the  building.  The  plan  has  been 
logically  developed  and  the  exterior  so  designed  as  to  accent  the  par- 
ticular features  of  the  plan. 

The  building  has  been  erected  without  accident  and  without  dis- 
cord between  the  several  contractors  and  the  University  authorities. 
Therefore,  Mr.  President,  I  can,  on  behalf  of  the  architects,  present  it 
to  you  with  the  assurance  that  it  has  been  completed  without  any 
incident  at  variance  with  the  ideals  for  which  we  expect  the  building  to 
stand. 

(328) 


19 

ADDRESS  COMMITTING  THE  BUILDING  TO  THE  CARE  OF 
THE  PRESIDENT 
The  Honorable  Samuel  A.  Bullard 
President  of  the  Board  of  Trustees 

It  affords  me  pleasure  today,  on  behalf  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  to 
accept  this  building  and  to  have  the  assurance  that  the  work  laid  out 
for  the  builders  has  been  completed.  From  the  time  a  building  of 
this  importance  is  commenced  till  the  time  it  is  finished,  a  long  period 
must  necessarily  intervene.  This  time  is  occupied  with  both  mental 
and  physical  activity,  for  the  plans  must  be  perfected  and  the  materials 
assembled  out  of  which  the  building  is  to  be  made,  and  the  artisans 
must  go  patiently  forward  with  their  work  through  all  the  stages  from 
the  first  breaking  of  earth  to  the  final  stroke  of  the  painter's  brush. 
The  building  is  now  completed  and,  speaking  for  the  Board  of  Trustees, 
we  today  accept  it. 

In  the  beginning  of  this  movement  the  President  and  Trustees 
recognized  the  need  of  providing  for  the  young  women  of  the  Univer- 
sity increased  advantages  in  physical  culture  and  social  life  peculiarly 
fitted  to  them  as  women.  I  am  not  sure  but  that  this  need  was  first 
voiced  by  the  mothers  of  the  young  women  of  the  State,  our  great 
constituents,  and  was  only  revoiced  by  the  President  and  the  Board. 
In  official  action  the  need  was  reduced  to  a  definite  statement  and 
was  carried  to  the  Legislature  with  the  request  that  the  funds  necessary 
to  construct  a  building  for  this  purpose  be  provided.  This  was  done 
with  success  and  the  forty-third  General  Assembly  of  Illinois  made 
the  necessary  appropriation. 

The  needs  which  this  building  was  to  assist  in  fulfilling  were  now 
more  definitelv  formulated,  and  the  character  and  extent  of  the 
functions  to  be  served  by  it,  and  the  relative  sizes  of  the  several 
sections  of  the  building  were  now  accurately  determined.  These  con- 
clusions were  then  submitted  to  the  architects  for  their  study  and 
advice  as  to  how  they  could  best  be  carried  into  effect  in  the  form  of  a 
graceful  and  beautiful  building  to  be  erected  upon  our  already  at- 
tractive campus.  How  well  they  succeeded  in  their  part  of  this  work 
is  apparent  to  all  here  present  and  there  is  no  need  of  an  eulogium  from 
me. 

However,  I  could  not  rightly  perform  this  pleasant  duty  today 
without  congratulating  ourselves  and  recognizing  our  obligations  to 
our  architects,  Messrs.  McKim,  Mead  and  White,  and  commending 
their  eminent  abilities,  which  have  been  so  admirably  displayed  in 
this  beautiful  structure.  And  further,  I  desire  to  say  that  the  happy 
result  of  a  great  enterprise  like  this  building  cannot  be  attained  with- 
out constant,  conscientious  and  capable  work  of  all  the  builders 
charged  with  its  construction.  And  I  am  pleased  to  commend  all  of 
those  artisans  who  have  with  a  true  spirit  of  art  wrought  out  and  left 

(329) 


20 

in  this  building  parts  showing  their  own  individuality.  We  delight 
to  honor  him  whose  hands  have  wrought  with  delicate  skill  that  in 
which  his  heart  has  found  great  joy. 

And  now  that  the  building  is  completed  our  minds  naturally  turn 
to  the  uses  we  are  intending  to  make  of  it.  It  is  not  consistent  in  art 
that  a  thing  be  simply  beautiful.  It  must  have  more  than  beauty  in 
order  to  be  good  art.  It  riiust  move  man  toward  better  things.  The 
Greeks  had  the  most  beautiful  architecture  of  the  world,  but  it  did  not 
inspire  them  to  live  better.  The  people  were  content  to  dwell  in  even 
ugly  and  ill-shaped  houses.  Their  sculpture  was  equallv  beautiful, 
and  it  charmed  men  and  women  to  a  nobler  physical  life.  There  was 
a  firm  step,  a  graceful  carriage,  a  princely  bearing,  a  calm  and  dignity 
emanating  from  its  graces  which  it  enthused  the  people  to  likewise 
possess.  Hence  in  art  the  sculpture  of  the  Greeks  was  away  and  be- 
yond their  architecture. 

We  trust  that  in  this  building,  this  stone  and  brick  and  wood  and 
metal  are  not  piled  up  here  in  order  to  simply  impress  the  students 
with  the  beautiful.  We  want  this  building  to  represent  true  art  by 
being  in  itself  beautiful,  and  by  nursing  into  stalwart  strength  within 
the  young  women  around  the  University  the  high  purpose  of  better 
living,  better  doing  and  better  being.  This  building  is  the  concrete 
expression  of  this  high  sentiment.  One  section  of  it  is  devoted  to 
instruction  in  the  physical  growth  and  nourishment  of  the  human 
body.  This  knowledge  is  the  basis  of  all  excellent  living.  The  body 
must  be  properly  provided  with  the  necessary  quantities  of  pure  and 
wholesome  foods,  or  neither  the  body  nor  the  mind  will  be  able  to 
perform  its  highest  functions,  and  individuals  will  be  prohibited  from 
attaining  the  highest  standard  of  physical  life.  The  members  of  the 
human  family  must  become  well-fed  animals  before  they  may  enjoy 
the  high  position  which  every  one  has  the  right  to  hope  for  and  expect. 
Another  part  of  this  building  is  devoted  to  instruction  in  the  physical 
exercise  of  the  body.  The  bodies  of  women,  as  of  men,  on  whom  rest 
the  responsibilities  of  life,  must  necessarily  be  in  constant  activity. 
Ease  in  doing  encourages  ability  to  do,  and  the  ability  develops  desire 
to  do,  and  desire  to  do  is  the  fore-runner  of  determination  to  do.  So 
the  knowledge  and  practice  of  physical  exercise  of  the  body  encourages 
better  doing.  And  yet  another  part  of  this  building  is  devoted  to 
the  exercise  of  the  social  life.  Our  social  lives  prove  more  than  any 
other  one  thing  what  we  are.  They  also  more  than  we  can  tell  operate 
to  make  us  what  we  are.  No  kind  act  performed  but  will  leave  the 
performer  kinder  in  heart.  No  word  of  cheer  is  spoken  but  leaves  the 
speaker  with  a  more  sunny  nature.  No  loving  service  is  rendered  but 
makes  the  servant  possess  more  nearly  the  true  spirit  of  the  Master. 
As  we  think  and  do  so  we  are.  Social  culture  therefore  induces  not  a 
little  to  the  welfare  of  the  race.     In  its  exercise  we  learn  and  practice 

(330) 


21 

the  amenities  which  make  the  roughness  of  Hfe  endurable,  and  the 
joys  more  thrilHng.  Living  and  doing  and  being,  these  three, — but 
the  greatest  of  these  is  being. 

These  incomplete  statements  are  short,  but  they  exhibit  the  pur- 
pose which  inaugurated  the  movement  that  has  culminated  thus  far 
in  erecting  this  handsome  structure  and  fitting  it  with  all  the  apparatus 
and  furnishings  necessary  to  amply  fulfill  this  purpose.  The  building  is 
completed,  its  equipment  provided,  and  all  these  physical  things  are 
ready.  The  work  proposed  must  be  done.  The  people  of  this  com- 
monwealth cannot  do  it.  The  Trustees  of  the  University  in  whose 
hands  the  people  have  committed  this  charge  cannot  perform  it. 
Other  hands  and  hearts  must  be  applied  to  the  task,  hands  that  are 
strong  and  hearts  that  are  confident.  The  Trustees  therefore  look  to 
the  women  instructors  of  the  University,  whose  duties  wholly  or  in 
part  lie  in  the  realm  covered  by  the  original  purpose  to  provide  this 
building  and  equipment,  as  the  ones  to  take  charge  of  these  things  and 
conduct  this  work. 

Into  your  hands,  the  lady  members  of  the  Faculty,  the  Trustees 
commit  not  only  this  building,  delightful  as  it  is  in  all  its  appoint- 
ments, but  the  superlative  duty  of  leading  the  young  women  of  this 
University  to  attain  the  highest  ideals  in  living,  doing  and  being. 
This  is  a  lofty  task  which  we  ask  of  you.  We  ask  it  because  we  have 
confidence  in  your  abilities  and  we  feel  sure  that  you  will  enter  into 
your  work  with  love  and  devotion  which  will  dare  and  sacrifice,  and 
further  because  the  work  is  a  great  one  and  it  must  be  done.  It  is  an 
activity  worthy  of  your  abilities.  We  would  have  you  teach  our 
young  women  the  laws  of  existence  and  perpetuity,  and  the  necessity  of 
activity,  endurance,  courage,  love  and  sacrifice  in  order  to  obtain  that 
most  exalted  existence  of  which  the  human  race  is  worthy.  In  other 
words,  we  want  you  to  join  in  that  Godlike  creation,  the  making  of  a 
woman  a  woman.  We  commend  this  duty  to  you  and  give  you  our 
blessing  in  it.     I  am  persuaded  that  this  duty  will  be  done  well. 


RESPONSE  OF  ACCEPTANCE 

Edmund  J.  James,  Ph.D.,  LL.D. 

President  of  the  University 

It  is  a  unique  building  we  are  here  dedicating,  the  like  of  which, 
so  far  as  I  know,  is  not  to  be  found  in  any  other  American  university. 

The  erection  and  dedication  of  such  a  building  as  this  signifies  one 
or  two  important  things  for  the  life  of  the  University.  It  means  in 
the  first  place  that  the  University  of  Illinois  is  committed  to  the  policy 
of  coeducation,  in  the  fullest  and  completest  sense  of  that  term.  It 
means  that  whatever  other  institutions  may  do  in  the  way  of  segre- 
gating the  women  in  the  process  of  education  or  however  they  may 

(331) 


22 

limit  their  numbers,  either  absolutely  or  by  a  percentual  gradation, 
the  University  of  Illinois  will  admit  all  the  women  of  this  common- 
wealth, who,  being  properly  prepared  for  University  work,  desire  the 
facilities  of  this  institution. 

This  building  means,  however,  still  another  and  a  very  important 
thing  for  the  future  of  college  women  in  this  State.  It  means  that 
the  State  of  Illinois  and  the  people  of  Illinois  are  still  in  many  respects 
old  fashioned.  They  believe  their  girls  should  be  treated  in  a  different 
and  better  way  than  their  boys,  if  a  choice  must  be  made  in  the  treat- 
ment of  the  two.  It  means  that  they  look  upon  the  girls  as  in  a 
peculiar  sense  their  precious  possessions,  and  that  whatever  concerns 
their  training  and  their  life  as  college  students  comes  very  close  to 
their  hearts.  It  means  that  parents,  after  all,  expect  a  different  treat- 
ment from  the  University  for  their  girls  than  that  with  which  they  are 
satisfied  for  their  boys.  It  means  that  there  is  a  difference  even  in 
this  social  and  academic  way  which  is  to  be  recognized  in  the  very 
organization  and  life  of  the  institution.  It  means  that  they  do  wish 
their  daughters  looked  after  in  a  different  way  and  to  a  different 
extent  from  that  with  which  they  are  satisfied,  per  force,  in  the  case  of 
their  sons.  This  is  perhaps  old  fashioned  and  not  in  accordance  with 
the  idea  of  the  new  woman,  but  it  is  in  accordance  with  the  sound 
and  sensible  feeling  of  the  mothers  and  fathers  of  this  great  State. 

It  means,  furthermore,  that  the  time  has  come  when  we  are  finally  . 
willing  to  face  the  proposition  that  the  higher  education  of  women  is 
to  be,  in  many  respects,  of  a  different  type  from  the  higher  education 
of  men.  When  women  first  made  their  demand  upon  the  institutions 
of  the  country  to  be  admitted  to  the  facilities  of  higher  education,  they 
were  not  satisfied  with  anything  less  than  exactly  the  same  privi- 
leges which  the  men  had,  and  they  did  not  care  for  anything  more. 
Offering  them  an  opportunity  to  pursue  other  courses  of  study  than 
those  pursued  by  the  men  and  by  other  methods,  seemed  to  them  an 
insult  and  an  attempt  to  sidetrack  them  in  their  efforts  to  obtain  a 
higher  education.  It  was  naturally  spurned  with  indignation,  but 
today  this  attitude  in  the  realm  of  higher  education  for  women  is 
passing  away,  and  the  women  themselves  are  beginning  to  raise  the 
question  whether  pursuing  the  same  studies  in  the  same  order  and  by 
the  same  methods  as  the  men  is  really  the  higher  education  for  which 
they  have  been  longing,  and  which  they  have  been  determined  to 
have. 

This  building  is  intended  to  house  three  departments  of  special 
significance  and  importance  for  women.  First  the  gymnasium.  I  need 
not  dwell  upon  this.  It  is  the  ordinary  gymnasium  with  the  ordinary 
facilities  for  physical  culture  which  our  modern  society  demands  for 
its  college  women,  and  I  regret  to  say  that  while  this  portion  of  the 
building  is  a  beautiful  structure,  eminently  adapted  to  its  purpose,  it 

(332) 


23 

is  after  all  not  large  enough  for  the  great  number  of  young  ladies  who 
have  already  entered  the  University  and  are  entitled  to  its  use.  The 
Legislature  of  the  State  and  the  Trustees  of  the  University  have  again 
made  the  mistake  which  we  Western  people  seem  almost  sure  to  make 
in  erecting  our  institutions,  namely,  not  to  plan  for  as  manv  students 
as.  before  the  buildings  are  finished,  crowd  into  their  halls. 

But  this  building  houses,  in  the  second  place,  a  social  club  house 
for  the  women  of  the  University,  and  this  marks  a  new  era  in  the  social 
life  of  the  women  of  this  institution. 

We  have  developed  here  at  the  University  of  Illinois,  to  quite  an 
astonishing  extent,  the  so-called  sorority  or  sisterhood,  a  semi-secret 
association  of  young  women,  limited  in  numbers  so  that  each  member 
may  really  become  an  intimate  friend  and  companion  of  every  other. 
It  has  very  many  advantages.  It  has  been,  under  conditions  prevailing 
here,  almost  a  necessity.  If  its  abuses  and  extravagances  can  be 
abolished,  it  will  remain  a  permanent  element  of  great  and  beneficent 
influence  in  the  life  of  the  University.  But  all  such  organizations  have 
one  drawback  which  is  involved  in  their  very  essence;  namely,  the 
limitation  of  the  association,  and  the  limitation  of  the  intercourse  to  a 
comparatively  small  number  of  people  who  have  been  selected  by  a 
more  or  less  artificial  process.  The  very  limitation  necessary  to  the 
intimacy  which  is  the  fundamental  advantage  of  the  sorority  shuts  off 
the  member  from  that  wider  intercourse  with  the  large  number  of 
college  women  from  which  a  better  selection  might  oftentimes  be 
made  of  the  intimacies  which  would  be  a  permanent  value  and  help  to 
one's  moral  and  intellectual  development.  It  is  believed  that  this 
social  club  house,  the  privileges  of  which  are  open  to  every  woman  in 
the  University  by  virtue  of  the  fact  that  she  is  a  member  of  the  Uni- 
versity, will  go  far  to  supplementing  the  defects  of  the  sorority  system, 
will  give  an  opportunity  for  the  women  in  different  sororities,  and  for 
the  women  in  no  sorority  at  all,  to  come  together  more  intimately 
upon  the  common  ground  of  University  membership,  that  ground 
which  after  all  is  more  fundamental  and  should  be  more  vital  than  any 
scheme  of  sororities  or  fraternities.  So  far  as  I  know  this  is  the  first 
building  of  this  sort  to  be  erected  at  any  American  university.  I  can- 
not help  but  believe  that  the  example  of  Illinois  in  this  respect  will  be 
followed  ere  long  by  many  other  institutions. 

This  structure  also  houses,  in  the  third  place,  the  department  of 
domestic  science.  This  is  the  department  referred  to  above,  which  is 
recognizing  the  peculiar  needs  of  women  in  the  field  of  higher  educa- 
tion. The  University  of  Illinois  was  the  first  university  in  the  country 
to  establish  a  chair  in  the  department  of  domestic  science.  This  step 
was  taken  more  than  twenty  years  ago,  and  was  one  of  the  many 
evidences  of  the  insight  and  outlook  of  that  first  President  of  this 
institution,  who  was  one  of   the    greatest  educational  forces  ever  at 

(333) 


24 

work  in  this  commonwealth,  Dr.  John  M.  Gregory.  But  the 
Doctor  saw  what  was  ultimately  destined  to  come  rather  than  what 
was  at  that  time  feasible;  for  twenty  years  ago  the  women  of  this 
country  who  were  seeking  the  higher  education  had  not  risen  to  the 
high  view  that  higher  education  for  women  should  be  in  many  respects 
entirely  different  from  higher  education  for  men.  The  girls  of  that 
time  literally  ridiculed  the  proposition  out  of  existence.  They  refused 
to  consider  that  higher  education  could  in  any  way  be  associated  with 
the  art  of  home-making, — that  there  was  anything  in  that  department 
which  people  could  find  at  the  universit}'.  They  insisted  that  they 
came  up  to  the  university  for  calculus  and  astronomy  and  geology, 
and  if  they  were  to  study  chemistry  it  was  certainly  not  to  be  the 
chemistry  of  foods;  and  if  it  was  architecture  it  was  not  to  be  the  archi- 
tecture of  the  home ;  if  it  was  business  management  it  was  not  to  be 
of  the  enterprises  which  the  women  could  and  do  manage  successfully, 
but  those  which,  up  to  the  present,  they  are  only  longing  to  manage. 
Today,  fortunately  for  this  State,  their  attitnde  is  entirely  different, 
and  the  number  of  women  who  are  taking  up  this  course  of  study,  and 
pursuing  it  by  the  methods  in  the  spirit  of  the  higher  education,  is 
rapidly  increasing. 

I  think  the  University  of  Illinois  may  congratulate  itself  upon  the 
fact  that  whereas  the  women's  colleges  almost  without  exception  have 
refused  to  take  up  these  courses  and  provide  for  them  in  the  same 
liberal  way  in  which  they  provide  for  courses  in  Latin  and  Greek,  in 
French  and  German,  this  institution  has  pointed  the  way,  not  only  to 
women's  colleges,  but  to  coeducational  institutions  in  general,  by 
which  a  vast  addition  may  be  made  to  the  facilities  of  higher  educa- 
tion for  women. 


THE  NEED  OF  THE  DAY:  A  CORRELATED  AND  DEMO- 
CRATIC EDUCATION 

Lilian  Wyckoff  Johnson,  Ph.D. 

President  of  the  Western  College  for  Women 

Every  true  teacher,  like  the  greatest  Teacher  of  all,  has  a  mission 
to  fulfill — a  message  to  proclaim — and  in  his  eagerness  he  proclaims 
the  message,  however  unwilling  the  ears,  and  rides  his  hobby  regardless 
of  the  toes  of  his  friends.  You  can,  therefore,  imagine  my  pleasure 
when  I  was  invited  to  speak  to  you  of  that  which  lies  nearest  to  my 
own  heart,  for  I  see  before  me  here  in  this  beautiful  new  Woman's 
Building  a  concrete  expression  of  my  pet  ideas.  I  congratulate  the 
University  of  Illinois  on  the  long  step  forward  which  it  has  taken  in 
the  education  for  women  by  the  erection  of  this  building.  I  congratu- 
late it  also  upon  the  inauguration  of  a  president  with  such  clear-cut 
and  progressive  ideas  of  education. 

(33i) 


25 

I  have  read  with  much  interest  President  James'  exposition  of  his 
ideas  of  what  a  great  university  should  be,  as  expressed  in  his  recent 
article  in  the  Rcz'iew  of  Rei'icws.  Surely  he  is  right  in  urging  that  the 
universitv  in  all  of  its  lines  of  work  should  be  closely  correlated  with 
life  and  that  its  dominant  note  should  be  service  to  the  state  and  to 
the  community.  Is  he  not  right  also  in  thinking  that  the  university 
must  help  to  solve  the  problem  of  a  system  of  education  for  the  state? 
Growing  up  spasmodically  as  they  have,  our  various  institutions  are 
unrelated  to  one  another  and  this  independence,  while  making  in  part 
for  strength,  is,  however,  a  great  weakness,  not  only  because  of  the 
duplication  of  the  work,  but  also  because  of  the  gaps  which  it  leaves 
in  a  progressive  course  of  education.  It  is  because  we  feel  the  need  of 
a  system  of  education  that  we  hail  with  delight  the  organization  of 
the  General  Education  board  and  the  recent  gift  of  Mr.  John  D. 
Rockefeller  to  that  board  of  ten  million  dollars,  with  a  declared  pur- 
pose that  the  income  should  be  used  to  further  the  organization  of  a 
svstem  of  education.  It  is  only  by  some  such  disinterested  body  with 
sufficient  means  at  its  command  that  a  system  truly  related  in  all  its 
parts  can  be  evolved,  and  those  institutions  who  are  anxious  to  see 
in  this  country  a  system  of  education  which,  from  the  kindergarten 
through  the  university,  is  not  only  closely  related  in  all  its  parts,  but 
also  is  in  every  phase  related  to  life  and  to  the  needs  of  the  present 
day,  should  rally  heartily  to  the  support  of  this  board  and  should 
urge  that  not  onlv  ten  million  dollars,  but  hundreds  of  millions  should 
be  intrusted  to  it  for  this  great  work. 

Have  we  not  been  slow  to  recognize  that  the  true  keynote  of  edu- 
cation is  service  and  that  the  highest  culture  can  result  only  from  an 
education  in  which  service  is  the  keynote?  In  spite  of  our  own  pro- 
gress in  all  that  makes  for  culture,  the  culture  of  the  Greeks  is  still 
our  ideal ;  but  was  not  this  an  outgrowth  of  the  idea  of  service  ?  When 
we  examine  their  system  of  education  we  find  that  every  phase  of  it 
was  ordered  with  the  idea  of  service  to  the  gods  or  to  the  state.  Their 
physical  training  was  to  prepare  good  soldiers  and  sailors ;  every  work 
of  art  had  behind  it  some  idea  of  service  to  the  gods,  or  to  the  state; 
even  their  oratory  and  drama  had  underneath  them  the  idea  of  service. 
When  we  turn  to  the  education  of  the  Middle  Ages  we  find  that  the 
schools  and  the  universities  were  organized  to  prepare  men  for  the 
service  of  the  church.  Later  as  the  communes  grew,  the  universities 
prepared  men  for  law  and  for  medicine.  This  system  of  education, 
worked  out  in  order  to  prepare  men  for  great  professions,  came  to  be 
more  and  more  thought  of  as  the  only  education  which  could  produce 
a  cultured  man ;  so  that  we  have  adopted  it  not  only  for  our  universities 
and  colleges,  but  have  passed  it  down  to  our  high  schools  and  secondary 
schools,  until  our  whole  scheme  of  education  is  moulded  upon  a  sys- 
tem which  was  originally  devised  to  fit  men  for  service  in  the  learned 

(335) 


26 

professions.  But  with  the  coming  in  of  the  new  sciences  and  the  new 
professions,  is  such  a  system  any  longer  adequate?  Do  we  not  need  a 
much  broader  idea  of  the  service  which  the  present  day  demands  of 
us,  and  should  not  our  whole  system  of  education  be  related  to  this 
diversified  life  and  each  part  of  it  closely  correlated  with  every  other 
part,  so  that  from  the  kindergarten  to  the  university,  while  the  one 
dominant  note  is  service,  the  interpretation  of  the  term  will  yet  be  so 
broad  as  to  include  every  phase  of  modern  agricultural,  industrial  and 
commercial  life  ? 

If  this  be  true  of  education  in  general,  what  shall  we  say  of  the 
education  of  women  in  particular?  If  service  is  to  be  the  keynote, 
for  what  should  our  young  women  be  educated?  Will  not  by  far  the 
greatest  number  of  them  be  home-makers ;  and  even  if  many  of  them 
enter  the  professions  or  business,  will  they  not  add  the  profession  of 
home-making  also?  If  this  be  true  should  not  our  colleges  and  uni- 
versities take  cognizance  of  this  and  see  to  it  that  the  courses  of  study 
are  such  as  to  fit  a  woman  for  this  line  of  work  ?  This  does  not  mean 
an  education  any  less  thorough  and  scientific  than  that  which  will  be 
given  to  men.  We  have  been  slow  to  discover  the  necessity  of  a 
thoroughly  scientific  training  for  the  farmer  and  the  mechanic ;  we  are 
slower  still  in  discovering  this  for  the  home-maker,  and  yet  it  is  into 
her  hands  that  are  entrusted  the  very  issues  of  life.  Having  learned 
that  brain  and  spirit  are  absolutely  dependent  for  a  proper  functioning 
upon  the  body,  should  we  not  see  to  it  that  those  who  have  the  chief 
care  of  ministering  to  the  body  should  understand  the  basic  principles 
of  this  work?  I  do  not  mean  that  I  would  limit  the  education  of  a 
woman  to  the  one  profession  of  home-making.  If  God  has  given  her 
a  special  talent,  be  it  even  that  of  bridge-building,  why  then  teach  her 
to  build  bridges;  and  if  she  can  build  them  better  than  any  one  else, 
there  will  be  a  place  and  a  work  for  her.  But  need  she  be  any  less  the 
woman  because  of  this?  Was  not  Frances  Willard  right  when  she 
said,  "Womanliness  first  of  all, — after  that  what  you  will"?  Have 
we  women  not  at  least  come  to  a  realization  that  what  we  wish  is  an 
education  as  thorough  and  as  scientific  as  that  of  the  men,  but  not 
necessarily  along  the  same  lines?  We  crave  the  best  preparation  for 
the  service  which  our  day  and  generation  will  demand  of  us,  but  will 
not  that  service  for  most  of  us  be  something  different  from  what  the 
world  asks  of  a  man? 

It  is  because  I  believe  this  that  I  congratulate  you,  the  young 
women  students  of  the  University  of  Illinois,  upon  the  gift  of  this 
beautiful  building,  where  you  will  have  the  opportunities  not  only  to 
develop  yourselves  physically,  but  to  pursue  courses  in  household 
economics  and  to  secure  social  training.  These  opportunities  in  the 
physical,  practical  and  social  lines,  in  addition  to  your  splendid  op- 
portunities  intellectually    and    the    spiritual   opportunities   which,    I 

(336) 


27 

understand,  are  offered  through  the  Young  Woman's  Christian  Associ- 
ation, will  give  you,  if  rightly  used,  the  all-round  education  which  the 
world  demands  of  you  in  this  twentieth  century.  Let  me  earnestly 
entreat  you  not  to  neglect  the  social  training  which  this  beautiful 
btiilding  offers  you,  and  do  not  make  the  mistake  of  confusing  social 
opportunities  with  social  training.  The  former  every  coeducational 
institution  offers  in  large  measure,  sometimes,  perhaps,  too  large.  By 
social  training  is  not  meant  a  course  in  manners,  but  the  training 
which  enables  one  to  meet  his  fellowmen  with  ease  and  so  to  draw 
from  their  best.  Let  these  rooms  be  your  laboratory  and  your  teachers 
the  most  cultivated  Christian  women  whom  you  can  find  in  this  com- 
munity. Without  such  social  training  you  are  as  seriously  handi- 
capped as  you  would  be  if  one  of  your  limbs  were  shortened;  with  it 
you  can  not  only  enrich  your  own  life  but  the  lives  of  others. 

Again  I  congratulate  you  and  assure  you  that  from  afar  we  shall 
watch  with  great  interest  your  development  into  women,  intellectual 
and  womanly,  strong  and  sweet,  cultured  and  Christian; — women 
ready  for  the  work  that  God  is  waiting  to  entrust  to  you. 


University  Address,  8  p.  m. 

THE  HEROISM  OF  SCHOLARSHIP 

Rev.  F.  W.  Gunsaulus,  D.D. 

President  of  Armour  Institute 

[This  address  is  withheld  from  publication.] 


Tuesday,  October  17 
STATE  AND  NATION  DAY 

Exercises  in  the  Armory,  9:00  a.m. 

PROGRAM 

The  Honorable  Shelby  M.  Cullom,  United  States  Senator  from  Illinois 

Presiding 

Music:     The  University  of  Illinois  Men's  Glee  Club. 

Addresses:  The  State  and  Education:  Honorable  Richard  J.  Barr, 
Mayor  of  Joliet.  Honorable  James  Hamilton  Lewis,  Corporation 
Counsel  of  the  City  of  Chicago,  representing  the  Mayor  of  Chicago. 
Honorable  Lawrence  Y.  Sherman,  Lieutenant-Governor  of  Illinois. 

Music:     The  Universitv  of  Illinois  Men's  Glee  Club. 


(337) 


28 


THE  RELATION  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  TO  THE  LOCALITY 

The  Honorable  Richard  J.  Barr 

Mayor  of  Joliet 

The  subject  assigned  to  me,  the  Relation  of  the  University  to  the 
Locality,  is  one  that  may  be  discussed  from  many  points  of  view.  As 
localities  make  up  the  state  and  the  states  the  nation,  an  exhaustive 
discussion  of  this  subject  would  cover  the  whole  field  of  university 
work.  The  university  and  the  higher  education  that  it  furnishes 
must  prove  their  value  to  the  locality,  if  they  expect  to  receive 
generous  public  support. 

It  is  generally  conceded  that  a  well-trained  mind  makes  one  better 
fitted  to  discharge  whatever  duties  he  may  assume ;  that  it  makes  him 
a  better  citizen,  better  able  to  serve  himself  and  others;  in  short,  makes 
him  a  better  man ;  and  perhaps  the  good  that  comes  from  higher  edu- 
cation, that  cannot  be  measured  in  money,  is  of  most  importance; 
nevertheless  I  will  occupy  the  few  minutes  allotted  me  in  discussing 
its  value  from  a  point  of  view  that  may  appear  to  be  largely  material. 

With  the  development  of  our  country  has  come  the  rapid  growth 
of  villages,  towns  and  cities,  and  with  them  the  public  utilities  that 
have  become  so  necessary  in  every  locality  of  dense  population.  And 
this  concentration  of  our  people  seems  to  have  just  begun.  Each 
year  marks  the  formation  of  innumerable  new  villages,  towns  and 
cities  and  the  rapid  growth  in  population  of  many  of  the  old  ones. 

With  the  formation  of  towns  comes  the  laying  out  and  building  of 
streets,  lots  and  blocks;  the  construction  of  sewers  and  water  mains; 
the  establishment  of  water  supplies  from  artesian  wells  and  from 
natural  streams  and  lakes  with  their  filtration  plants  and  pumping 
systems;  the  erection  of  lighting  plants  with  the  installation  of  dis- 
tributing pole  and  pipe  lines;  the  equipment  of  street  departments 
with  their  street  cleaning  forces;  of  health  departments  with  their 
garbage  crematories  and  reduction  plants;  of  fire  and  police  depart- 
ments with  their  systems  of  electrical  connections  without  which  they 
are  useless;  of  plumbing  departments  that  are  so  essential  to  the 
health  of  the  occupants  of  every  house.  And  each  of  these  depart- 
ments can  be  properly  handled  only  by  men  who  have  received  a 
technical  training  in  the  college  or  university. 

The  importance  to  the  locality  or  municipality  of  trained  men  in 
these  departments  is  well  illustrated  by  the  duties  that  devolve  upon 
the  city  engineer. 

Very  often  the  width  of  the  streets  is  determined  long  before  the 
village  or  town,  which  afterwards  becomes  a  city,  has  a  city  engineer, 
but  as  soon  as  street  improvements  begin  his  services  are  called  for 
and  he  is  required  to  establish  sidewalk  and  curb  grades  that  property 
owners  may  build  and  improve  their  property  with  reference  to  them , 

(338) 


29 

and  as  nearly  every  street  is  partially  built  up  before  the  sidewalks 
and  curbs  are  put  in,  and  as  this  work  is  usually  done  a  block  or  so  at 
a  time,  it  is  essential  that  these  grades  be  given  so  that  they  will 
conform  to  grades  already  established  in  different  parts  of  the  town 
and  also  to  those  to  be  established  as  the  city  grows  and  expands. 

In  nearly  every  city  we  find  irregular  sidewalk  grades.  We  also 
find  that  these  walks  are  being  reduced  to  a  uniform  grade  with  the 
result  that  rows  of  buildings  erected  with  reference  to  the  sidewalk 
grade,  given  by  some  incompetent  engineer,  have  to  be  lowered  or 
raised  at  great  expense  to  the  owner. 

In  building  an  asphalt  street  thirty-six  feet  wide,  which  is  the 
width  of  many  residence  streets,  the  cost  is  five  dollars  per  running 
foot,  so  that  the  owner  of  a  lot  sixty-six  feet  wide  would  be  assessed 
three  hundred  and  thirty  dollars.  The  construction  of  this  street  is 
of  considerable  importance  to  the  property  owners;  in  fact,  there  are 
many  streets  in  cities  of  Illinois  now  in  process  of  construction  where 
this  assessment  amounts  to  all  but  the  value  of  the  property  itself. 
This  being  true,  it  is  very  essential  that  when  this  street  is  completed 
it  shall  be  of  a  lasting  character. 

If  this  street  is  properly  built,  it  will  last  for  ten,  fifteen  or  twenty 
years  without  resurfacing  and  with  little  repair,  while  on  the  other 
hand  if  it  is  built  from  an  improper  quality  of  material  or  of  material 
mixed  in  improper  proportions,  it  will  go  to  pieces  at  the  end  of  two 
3"ears  and  the  large  sum  of  money  expended  for  its  construction  is 
lost,  and  this  is  largely  true  even  though  you  have  a  guarantee  from 
the  company  that  constructed  it;  for  if  your  street  gets  out  of  repair, 
it  takes  time  for  the  company  to  get  its  plants  on  the  ground  and  make 
the  necessary  repairs,  if  it  is  disposed,  and  if  it  is  not  so  disposed 
you  may  bring  an  action  on  its  bond  and  thus  involve  the  city  in 
a  first-class  law  suit,  which  is  usually  very  unsatisfactory  to  both 
parties. 

The  importance  of  a  competent  engineering  department  to  a 
municipality,  I  believe,  only  fairly  illustrates  the  importance  of  having 
competent  heads  to  every  other  department  of  the  city  government. 
The  necessity  of  having  competent  men  to  pass  upon  the  quantity  and 
quality  of  light  purchased  from  private  corporations  and  the  necessity 
of  having  competent  men  to  operate  gas  and  electric  lighting  plants 
where  the  cities  are  the  owners  of  them,  are  of  the  greatest  importance 
to  the  locality.  And  what  is  true  of  these  departments  is  also  true  in 
a  more  or  less  degree  of  every  other  public  utility,  for  all  of  them  are 
either  owned  or  supported  by  the  inhabitants  of  the  community. 

Each  one  of  these  utilities  requires  not  only  successful  men  to 
properly  handle  them,  but  also  laboratories  of  various  kinds  where 
tests  can  be  made.  These  laboratories  are  usually  not  owned  in  the 
locality,  and  thus  it  seems  to  me  that  the  state  university  is  the 

(339) 


30 

proper  place  to  have  these  tests  made;  its  laboratories  should  be  made 
use  of  by  the  people  of  every  locality. 

This  laboratory  work  of  the  university  becomes  valuable  not  only 
to  the  people  of  the  municipality,  but  to  the  people  of  every  locality. 
For  during  the  last  few  years  our  own  State  University  has  done  much, 
not  only  to  furnish  trained  men  for  our  various  municipalities  and 
laboratories  for  the  testing  of  material  used  in  cities,  but  has  also  done 
much  to  help  the  people  of  the  farming  communities  in  the  tests  and 
discoveries  made  along  agricultural  lines.  It  has  done  much  good  by 
sending  in  pamphlet  form  the  results  of  these  investigations  into  the 
homes  of  the  farmers,  thus  enabling  them  to  produce  not  only  a  greater 
yield,  but  a  better  quality  of  the  product  of  the  soil.  By  the  use  of 
the  laboratories  of  the  university,  the  people  of  the  locality  may  know 
the  best  uses  for  their  soil.  The  establishment  here  of  a  school  of 
ceramics  will  enable  a  community  to  utilize  its  clays,  to  establish  tile, 
brick  and  pottery  factories,  where  before  it  was  not  known  that  suit- 
able clays  existed.  The  farmer  is  also  advised  of  the  various  diseases 
and  of  insects  that  destroy  vegetables  and  fruits  and  the  best  methods 
of  eradicating  them. 

In  fact,  the  progress  of  the  locality  in  all  directions  is  and  may  be 
largely  influenced  by  the  help  it  obtains  from  the  university. 

Mr.  Carnegie  at  the  opening  of  the  laboratory  of  engineering  which 
he  gave  to  the  Stevens  Institute  in  Hoboken,  New  Jersey,  said: 

"My  trifling  gift  to  Stevens  was  not  a  thing  of  chance.  I  know 
what  the  institute  is  doing,  for  in  all  my  experience  in  manufacturing 
I  have  learned  this  thing  above  all  others ;  bring  brains  and  knowledge 
to  your  work,  even  in  the  smallest  detail.  I  always  follow  that  rule. 
I  believe  that  I  was  the  first  man  who  employed  a  chemist  at  a  blast 
furnace  in  the  United  States.  And  mind  you,  he  had  to  be  made  in 
Germany.  We  paid  him  the  enormous  salary  of  fifteen  hundred 
dollars  a  year.  But  then  that  is  as  much  as  I  got  as  general  manager 
of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad. 

"Well,  with  the  aid  of  this  chemist  alone,  we  were  soon  able  to 
make  money  out  of  slag,  scale,  etc.,  that  other  manufacturers  were 
throwing  away.  Then  we  found  that  there  was  ore  that  was  far  better 
than  the  ore  which  was  being  generally  used  then,  and  which  had  a  big 
name.  Other  manufacturers  were  buying  ore  by  name;  we  got  richer 
and  cheaper  ore  which  had  no  name. 

"But  that  is  all  past.  The  technical  school  has  given  to  this 
country  a  class  of  young  men,  the  like  of  which  are  seen  nowhere  else 
in  the  world.  I  had  a  number  of  famous  English  iron  and  steel  men 
at  dinner  not  long  ago.  When  one  of  them  arose  to  drink  to  my 
health,  he  said,  'Mr.  Carnegie,  it  is  not  your  superior  ores  nor  your 
great  mills  that  impress  me  most,  but  the  class  of  young  men  you  have 
in  iron  industry  here.     We  have  no  corresponding  class  in  England.'  " 

(340) 


31 

The  University  does  much  for  the  locaUty,  not  alone  in  training 
boys  who  become  skilled  men,  but  also  in  training  girls  who  become 
the  women  of  the  community. 

The  influence  of  the  university  is  felt  by  the  localitv  in  manv  ways, 
not  alone  through  her  technical  men,  but  through  her  professional  and 
business  men, — an  influence  that  is  greater  than  is  realized  bv  many 
of  our  people.  These  are  the  men  who  have  to  do  with  our  health, 
who  govern  and  direct  the  public  improvements,  who  plan  and  super- 
intend the  waterworks,  the  lighting  and  heating  plants,  the  transpor- 
tation facilities,  the  public  playgrounds,  parks,  streets  and  the  mani- 
fold municipal  activities  in  which  every  up-to-date  citv  is  engaged. 
The  locality  depends  upon  the  chemist  and  bacteriologist  to  tell  its 
people  of  the  purity  of  the  water  and  its  possible  pollution,  to  furnish 
us  with  examination  of  the  foods  we  consume  and  the  milk  and  bev- 
erages that  we  drink,  to  give  us  reports  of  the  fertility  and  condition 
of  the  soil  and  the  best  methods  of  destroying  noxious  growths  and 
insects.  To  the  engineer  in  the  various  ramifications  of  his  profession 
as  municipal,  hydraulic,  sanitary,  bridge,  railroad,  mechanical  and 
electrical  engineer  is  the  locality  indebted  not  onlv  for  the  rapid 
strides  in  human  progress  that  have  been  made  in  the  last  twentv-five 
years,  but  for  the  multitudinous  trifles  of  comfort  and  luxury  which 
affect  the  well  being  and  happiness  of  each  and  every  member  of  a 
locality. 

The  university  confers  benefits  upon  the  locality  through  the 
medium  of  her  graduates  and  also  through  her  professors,  who  are  in 
almost  daily  consultation  with,  and  who  are  advising  the  officials  of 
municipalities  in  the  solution  of  the  many  problems  of  civic  life.  Thus 
the  university  with  her  laboratories,  open  to  the  public  generally  for 
the  testing  of  waters,  soils  and  materials  for  construction,  and  offering 
advice  based  on  the  results  of  such  examination,  becomes  a  direct 
factor  in  the  progress  of  every  municipality  and  locality. 


ADDRESS 


The  Honorable  James  Hamilton  Lewis 

Corporation  Counsel  of  the  City  of  Chicago 

I  come  to  bring  you  the  felicitations  and  encouragement  of  the 
most  representative  American  city  of  the  world — Imperial  Chicago. 
Yet  in  my  song  of  gladness  I  sound  a  note  of  sadness. 

The  great  city  is  the  graveyard  of  literary  learning.  The  refine- 
ment of  letters  is  lost  in  the  heaps  and  debris  of  the  mill  and  the 
factor\\  The  song  of  beauty  is  smothered  in  the  shriek  of  the  whistle 
and  the  clang  of  the  bells.  The  speeding  racer  upon  the  trade  track 
is  wrapt  and  absorbed  in  the  push  and  shove  for  place  as  he  plunges 

(341) 


32 

to  the  wire  for  the  prize  of  gold.  His  is  the  glory  of  wealth  and  the 
grandeur  of  material  achievement.  To  him  there  is  no  beauty  in 
the  crown  of  laurels,  no  victory  in  the  wreath  of  bay.  He  forgets 
where  it  was  "  Ilissus  rolled  his  whispering  streams,"  or  from  where 
"Parnassus  fount  ran  the  fluids  of  perfect  life."  His  is  the  magnifi- 
cence of  the  constructor  who  builds  with  the  hands.  He  leaves  to  the 
dreamer  the  castle  built  with  the  beauty  of  a  thought  and  polished  in 
the  perfume  of  an  ecstasy.  Still,  the  city  and  the  college  are  wedded 
in  the  bond  of  mutual  dependence — one  and  inseparable.  The 
genius  which  uplifts  from  the  earth  to  the  clouds  the  steepled  wonders 
of  architecture  was  born  in  the  breath  of  the  educated  life.  The 
master  of  the  mysteries  of  manufacture  brewed  his  secrets 
from  the  alchemy  of  the  college  laboratory.  The  financier, 
whose  manipulations  of  the  money  changes  bewilder  the  mind  and 
startle  the  body  into  revolutions  and  rebellion,  wooed  his  magic  art 
from  the  winding  college  labyrinth.  The  profound  man  of  civic 
accomplishment  and  material  development  borrowed  his  guide  of 
action  and  chart  of  achievement  from  the  scrolls  of  learning  and  the 
parchment  of  college  records.  He  may  have  been  unconscious  of  the 
mother  of  his  attributes,  but  was  no  less  indebted  to  education  as  the 
source  and  birthplace  of  his  profound  creations. 

It  has  become  something  of  a  popular  theme  to  indulge  the  ex- 
pression that  a  college  education  is  no  longer  necessary  to  a  business 
man's  welfare,  nor  an  advantage  to  the  man  of  affairs  who  destines  the 
course  of  great  cities.  Lately  two  eminent  projectors  of  the  success 
of  the  material  world  have  enunciated  these  views.  One,  a  distin- 
guished and  successful  manufacturer  in  the  city  of  Chicago,  has  written 
a  book  to  prove  that  an  education  is  not  necessary  to  a  manufacturer's 
success;  the  other,  a  famous  iron  master,  who  has  built  an  armor 
plate  for  our  national  navy,  has  repeated  this  doctrine  in  public  ad- 
dress. Let  it  be  understood  this  is  not  new.  As  we  contemplate 
these  views,  it  is  of  passing  interest  to  recall  that  Seneca  has  occasion 
to  tell  us  something  of  two  characters,  the  same  who  have  lately  been 
brought  to  our  attention  by  the  author  of  Quo  Vadis, — Seneca  gives 
us  the  dialogue  between  Petronius  and  Vicinius.  Note  it.  Petronius 
says:  "There  goes  (referring  to  one  who  has  lived  in  the  world  of 
letters)  a  scholar.  He  has  been  to  the  colleges  in  Greece  and  has  not 
land  enough  to  bury  himself.  College  education,  I  say,  is  a  great 
disadvantage  to  business.  Behold  me!  There  is  not  a  bird  which, 
flying  all  day,  can  go  beyond  the  lands  which  I  own  from  this  point. 
Ah,  I  say,  land  for  me;  learning  for  him. " 

It  appears  to  me  as  an  expression  of  folly  for  one  to  claim  that 
success  in  any  form  of  scientific  achievement  or  material  development 
is  not  necessarily  aided,  if  not  born,  from  education.  As  well  might 
one  who  dips  water  from  a  vessel  near  by,  to  put  into  a  boiler  for  the 

(■342) 


33 

purpose  of  generating  steam,  announce  that  it  was  unnecessary  to 
know  anything  concerning  the  manner  of  drawing  water,  unconscious 
in  such  statement  that  if  there  had  not  been  those  before  him  who 
had  drawn  the  water,  he  would  not  have  it  to  convert  into  steam  and 
power.  So,  too,  had  there  not  been  the  forerunners  with  knowledge 
and  science  to  present  the  material  or  the  thought  to  the  practical 
man  for  its  adoption  and  use,  he  would  not  have  so  moulded  or  shaped 
it  so  as  to  have  produced  its  material  results  or  financial  re- 
ward. There  is  nothing  of  today  that  is  not  of  the  yesterday  in  some 
form  or  shape.  Patrick  Henry  stated  the  truth  when  saying  "We 
have  no  lamp  to  guide  our  feet  but  history;  we  can  only  judge  the 
future  by  the  past."  So,  too,  the  man  who  accomplishes  today,  does 
so  by  some  of  the  fruits  of  yesterday,  though  he  may  be  un- 
conscious that  these  have  been  produced  from  academic  science 
and  college  culture.  It  is  a  display  of  indifference  to  all  that  goes  to 
establish  high  moral  standards  and  secure  safe  thought  in  the  world 
of  affairs  for  one  to  assert  that  any  great  form  of  success  can  be 
attained  without  the  refinements  of  learning. 

The  city  must  turn  to  the  college  as  the  fount  from  which  it  must 
drink  the  inspiration  of  thought  or  influence.  It  is  the  school  of 
higher  education  that  in  this  day  is  more  needed  than  at  any  time  in 
the  history  of  our  Republic.  Indeed,  if  there  were  nothing  else  to  be 
taught,  the  municipalities  and  the  crowded  thoroughfares  of  commerce 
might  learn  once  again  the  early  creeds  which  did  so  much  to  build 
our  nation  in  honor  and  hold  it  to  the  anchorage  of  truth  and  justice. 
When  from  the  halls  of  our  national  legislation  there  comes  the  evi- 
dence of  public  pollution,  when  United  States  senators  sell  their  high 
offices  for  gain,  pervert  their  public  place  for  private  fortune,  repudi- 
ate and  betray  the  trust  reposed  in  them,  that  they  may  serve  those 
who  steal  the  substance  of  the  poor  and  profit  by  the  destruction  of 
honor — in  a  word,  when  men  in  high  places  unblushingly  confess  the 
open  appropriation  to  themselves  of  the  trust  funds  placed  in  their 
hands  for  the  preservation  of  helpless  widows  and  homeless  children, 
and  boast  with  the  air  of  bravado  and  indifference  of  having  consum- 
mated the  scheme  of  debauching  the  public  ballot,  purchasing  legis- 
latures and  juggling  the  judiciary  of  the  nation,  to  the  sole  object  and 
end  of  enhancing  private  fortune,  that  such  may  be  expended  to  ac- 
commodate their  vulgar  practices  and  gross  indulgences  and  to  pay  for 
Bacchanalian  revels  for  the  social  degenerates  who  occupy  official 
positions  and  whose  highest  aspiration  is  to  ape  the  fool  who  performed 
at  the  feast  of  Belshazzar, — surely  the  school,  the  college  and  univer- 
sity could  at  least  tender  to  the  great  cities  and  their  clustering  "corn- 
ers" of  finance  and  trade  that  lesson  taught  once  from  a  mother's 
knee,  bringing  forth  the  law  which  came  from  Sinai  saying,  "Thou 
shalt  not  steal,"  or  that  other  precept  proclaimed  by  the  Apostle  of 

(343) 


34 

Peace  from  the  mount — "Love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself. "  These  two 
laws  can  at  least  be  once  again  tendered  by  the  university  as  the 
mother  of  learning,  the  monument  of  truth  and  the  guide  to  justice. 
The  city,  therefore,  may  turn  again  to  the  groves  of  the  university 
ground  to  catch  the  spirit  of  truth  and  to  the  crypts  of  the  university 
walls  for  the  book  of  knowledge.  From  these  she  may  drink  deep,  to 
the  end  that  justice  may  be  justified  of  her  children,  and  that  honor 
and  truth  may  still  remain  the  dearest  heritage  man  can  transmit  to 
the  children.  It  is  to  the  fulfillment  of  this  dream  that  Chicago 
brings  her  hopes,  her  wishes  and  her  congratulations  to  you  upon  this 
auspicious  day. 

We  are  told  that  in  the  time  of  Hadrian,  a  tyrant  emperor  of  Rome, 
he  condemned  to  death  an  old  man  for  the  offense  of  criticising  the 
corrupt  state  of  the  empire.  The  old  man  was  sentenced  to  starve  to 
death.  He  was  imprisoned  in  a  close  cell,  with  none  permitted  to 
see  him  but  the  watching  guard  and  his  daughter.  It  was  observed 
that  the  hapless  prisoner  survived  and  did  not  perish.  The  incident 
attracted  attention,  as  no  food  had  been  allowed  to  the  cell.  Upon 
investigation  it  was  detected  that  the  daughter,  who  had  lately  been  a 
mother,  was  feeding  her  famished  father  from  the  springs  of  her 
maternal  bosom.  The  incident  could  well  have  touched  the  emperor 
and  justify  the  pardon  that  followed.  So,  too,  might  we  apply  the 
illustration — that  if  the  Republic  has  become  decrepit  in  honor,  is 
famishing  in  its  patriotism,  surely  we  may  take  lesson  from  the  classic 
incident  as  given  us  by  the  historian  and  perpetuated  in  canvas  by  the 
painter,  and  turning  to  the  university  point  to  her  as  the  daughter 
of  the  state  from  whose  exuberant  bosom  our  government  may  still 
draw  the  fluid  of  patriotism  and  honor,  and  survive,  to  the  happiness 
of  her  people  and  the  perpetual  glory  of  the  Republic. 


ADDRESS 

The  Honorable  Lawrence  Y.  Sherman 
Lieutenant-Governor  of  Illinois,  Springfield 

The  common  school  system  of  this  State  has  been  elaborated,  and 
has  kept  pace  with  the  growth  of  Illinois.  It  began  under  very  humble 
circumstances.  It  has  developed  until  it  is  entirely  worthy  of  such  a 
State. 

I  presume,  from  the  standpoint  of  those  who  are  charged  with 
legislative  duties,  we  naturally  look  at  the  question  of  taxation.  We 
are  interested  more  in  furnishing  the  funds  to  support  the  State 
school  system,  because  we  are  primarily  charged  with  the  levy  and 
collection  of  that  tax.  We  are  expected  to  furnish  the  means,  and  if 
the  tax  rate  should  become  too  high,  we  are  expected  to  furnish  an 
explanation. 

(344) 


35 

The  taxing  question  is  a  sensitive  one  among  all  English-speaking 
people.  Those  who  are  charged  with  the  taxing  powers  are  more 
susceptible  to  criticism  and  fear  that  criticism  more  upon  that  than 
upon  any  other  question.  The  taxpayer  is  more  disposed  to  carry  his 
grievance  to  the  polls  or  to  the  point  of  revolution  among  English- 
speaking  races,  and  even  among  those  of  Germanic  or  north  of  Europe 
origin,  upon  this  than  upon  any  other  question.  We  consequently, 
either  through  ignorance,  or  by  the  development  and  application  of 
common  law  principles  to  our  own  form  of  government  on  this  conti- 
nent, and  especially  in  the  United  States,  have  become  sensitive  on 
this  question,  along  with  those  who  helped  frame  the  government  we 
are  enjoying  today,  but  laid  the  foundation  upon  which  these  princi- 
ples were  subsequently  developed. 

So  IlHnois  has  regard  to  her  taxable  property.  It  begins  with  the 
local  taxation  in  the  humblest  form  of  the  school  system.  It  begins  in 
the  district  school,  that  is  the  lowest  form  of  corporate  life  with  the 
fewest  powers  of  any  taxing  body  in  this  State.  Beginning  here  it 
develops  until  it  reaches  the  form  of  municipal  life.  It  reaches  the 
graded  school,  then  the  normal  school,  then  the  university.  Beginning 
with  the  broad  base  of  the  common  school  system  it  ends  with  this 
University.,  that  is  established  by  the  power  of  the  State  and  main- 
tained in  large  part  by  public  taxation.  i\ll  that  has  been  given 
by  the  national  government,  while  it  is  sufficient  to  found,  is  insuffi- 
cient to  maintain.  The  school  system  of  this  State  is  administered  by 
public  agencies.  There  are  in  those  agencies  not  only  institutions 
but  there  are  laws,  and  the  laws  must  be  administered  by  human 
beings,  and  we  must  take  them  as  we  find  them.  At  Springfield  in 
the  levying  of  taxes  and  in  the  expenditure  of  public  funds,  it  is 
entirely  too  much  to  expect  that  any  reformation  will  begin  after  a 
representative  of  the  Legislature  lands  in  his  seat,  if  I  mav  be  allowed 
to  use  that  colloqiiial  phrase.  He  is  not  merely  a  product  of  heredity 
and  environment;  he  is  more  than  that,  as  this  may  be  applied  gener- 
ally to  men  in  public  affairs  and  responsible  places.  A  member  of  the 
Legislature  is  a  product  of  a  situation  that  knows  no  heredity,  knows 
no  environment.  He  is  certainly  a  mixture  of  the  strangest  elements 
that  the  sun  in  our  solar  system  ever  shone  upon.  It  is  non-racial; 
it  is  political,  in  all  that  politics  implies  among  English-speaking  people, 
from  the  days  of  the  organization  of  the  English  Parliament  down  to 
the  Illinois  Legislature.  It  is  political  in  the  strict  sense  of  the  word. 
And  among  the  political  elements  of  Illinois  there  must  always  be 
considered  the  race  question,  especially  in  Chicago.  There  we  find 
representatives  of  all  the  great  and  best  races  of  the  old  world  to  a 
greater  extent  than  in  any  other  city  on  the  American  continent. 
There  is  scarcely  a  great  race  whose  forebears  reach  back  to  the  early 
histon.-  of  the  world,  that  has  not  sent  liberally  of  its  people  to  the 

(345) 


36 

United  States.  They  are  here  as  an  enduring  element  of  American 
Ufe.  They  have  brought  with  them  in  many  instances  the  best 
blood,  and  have  contributed  much  to  the  modification  of  the  insti- 
tutions and  customs  and  letters  of  the  mother  country.  And  while 
they  have  come,  some  of  them,  with  preconceived  ideas  of  govern- 
ment, they  have  modified  them,  have  changed  them,  when  change  is 
necessary,  until  they  have  become  a  component  part  of  the  adminis- 
tration of  public  affairs  in  Illinois. 

Now  the  state  is  not  an  abstraction,  conceived  by  an  idealist  who 
dwells  in  an  aircastle.  The  state  is  a  collection  of  powers  making 
towards  definite  ends.  Those  powers  are  lodged  in  and  administered 
by  departments,  operated  by  human  beings.  The  state  government 
is  not  automatic  either.  We  sometimes  think  it  is  so.  The  reasons 
are  evident.  Take  any  statute  in  this  State  as  an  entirety.  It  is  a 
growth.  It  begins  with  humble  surroundings,  and  sometimes  ends 
with  great  power,  as  population  increases,  and  the  resources  of  the 
country  are  developed.  Sometimes  it  ends  in  disaster.  Always 
remember  that  ideal  law  on  paper,  applied  to  ideal  conditions,  operated 
by  ideal  men,  is  one  thing;  but  legislation  is  not  an  exact  science.  It 
is  not  like  a  mechanical  power,  that  can  be  gauged  or  measured  so 
well  that  you  know  to  the  last  horse-power  what  will  be  applied  to  the 
working  point.  Its  strength  and  instruments  are  unknown.  In  its 
early  stages  legislation  was  nothing  but  an  experiment  operating  upon 
an  aggregation  of  chances.  The  State  capitol  at  Springfield  is  a 
mausoleum  of  repealed  statutes.  Some  served  their  purpose  and 
served  them  well.  Some  have  become  demonstrated  errors,  some  have 
become  obsolete,  and  some  have  been  rendered  nugatory  by  judicial 
construction  and  decisions. 

At  one  time  the  General  Assembly  of  this  State  was  the  source  of 
nearly  all  the  governing  power  of  Illinois.  The  executive  was  weak. 
The  judicial  bodies  were  dependent  upon  it  for  their  tenure  of  office 
and  the  amount  of  salary.  In  its  original  form  the  primitive  govern- 
ment was  a  government  that  was  either  legislative  or  something  that 
answered  to  a  legislature. 

In  every  republican  form  of  government  these  primitive  forms 
have  been  expressed  in  various  ways,  but  as  the  population  increased, 
and  the  resources  of  the  country  grew,  and  those  intangible  things, 
that  are  greater  even  than  can  be  seen,  developed,  as  human  rights 
began  to  be  guarded,  as  institutions  developed;  then  we  began  to 
understand  that  the  legislature  needed  subdivision.  That  subdivision 
came;  boundaries  were  struck  off,  so  that  those  powers  should  be 
exercised  definitely  by  the  three  great  departments,  the  legislative, 
executive  and  the  judiciary. 

For  many  years  in  this  State  the  General  Assembly  passed  special 
laws.     Those  special  laws  covered  almost  every  conceivable  branch 

(346) 


37 

of  subjects.  In  those  days  there  was  not  a  corporation,  business  or 
eleemosynary,  that  was  not  created  by  a  special  act  of  the  General 
Assembly ;  and  from  that  power  vested  in  the  General  Assembly  came 
the  breath  of  corporate  life.  This  special  legislation  is  no  more,  ex- 
cept in  certain  portions  of  the  State.  Certain  business  corporations 
have  perpetual  franchises  and  have  the  power  to  endure  indefinitelv. 
They  are  given  the  right  to  be  a  corporation  in  perpetuity.  Others  of 
various  kinds  still  exist  as  a  living  witness  to  the  charter  powers 
granted  by  the  special  legislation  from  the  early  General  Assemblies 
of  this  State.  That  has  changed.  It  has  been  changed  by  the  or- 
ganic law  of  this  State.  That  change  came  slowly.  The  debates  in 
the  Constitutional  Convention  show  that  every  section  which  per- 
mitted of  any  form  of  special  legislation  met  with  the  most  strenuous 
opposition.  It  was  an  evil,  an  admitted  evil,  but  like  a  great  many 
other  evils  it  died  hard.  Illinois  emerged  slowly  from  the  tangled 
growth  of  special  legislation,  and  like  these  repealed  statutes  mentioned, 
it  slumbers  forgotten.     We  have  outlived  it  all. 

Among  those  special  charters  granted  are  those  giving  to  school 
districts  the  right  to  endure  under  that  special  act,  as  a  school  body 
vested  with  the  sovereign  powers  of  taxation  and  the  expenditure  of 
money.  Out  of  the  many  hundreds  of  these  legislative  hydras  that 
were  once  to  be  found  in  Illinois  there  remain  but  thirty-six,  in 
various  parts  of  this  State.  They  are  a  part  of  the  common  school 
system  of  this  State.  And  they  are,  it  is  proper  to  be  mentioned  and 
considered,  here  in  this  University  as  they  are  in  the  adjoining  dis- 
tricts of  the  territory  embraced  in  these  special  charters.  The  pro- 
visions in  those  charters  are  as  dense  and,  in  some  instances,  as  con- 
tradictory as  the  wishes  and  opinions  of  those  who  wrote  them,  and 
procured  them  to  be  granted. 

The  State  School  Lands  were  originally  more  than  a  million  acres. 
That  grant  was  general  in  its  terms.  It  vested  the  title  in  the  State 
or  in  the  institutions  that  represented  branches  of  the  State  govern- 
ment. The  Legislature  of  this  State  during  a  critical  period  put  much 
of  it  in  the  hands  of  specially  chartered  districts.  It  authorized  the 
land  to  be  sold,  and  the  money  invested  as  a  school  fund. 

There  is  now  in  this  State  seventeen  million  dollars  remaining. 
Of  this  amount  fifteen  millions  are  found  inside  of  Cook  County.  Two 
millions  are  found  outside,  in  the  other  one  hundred  counties  of  Illi- 
nois. 

Chicago,  wherein  the  bulk  of  this  fund  is  now  found  in  concrete 
form,  has  kept  her  lands.  The  school  authorities  in  the  counties 
outside  have,  through  enabling  acts,  sold  theirs.  Bad  investments, 
embezzlements  and  kindred  offenses  have  scattered  this  heritage 
until  the  existing  remnants  only  tend  to  remind  us  of  what  might  have 
been. 

(347) 


38 

Money  is  a  somewhat  intangible  blessing.  It  is  hard  to  get,  and 
easy  to  part  with.  It  is  a  harder  thing  to  keep  and  an  easier  thing  to 
part  with  when  it  is  in  a  school  fund  than  in  any  other  form.  This  is 
enough  to  convince  any  person  that  no  investment  of  public  money 
of  any  kind  by  a  custodian  subject  to  appointment  can  be  long  con- 
tinued without  great  risk. 

The  school  system  ought  to  be  a  state  system.  No  aboriginal  or 
special  charters  ought  to  make  their  districts  sustain  merely  tribal 
relations  to  the  general  school  laws  of  Illinois.  There  ought  to  be  in 
every  state  a  system  complete  and  uniform,  and  that  uniformity  can- 
not be  while  special  charters  remain. 

No  one-man  power  ever  ought  to  be  permitted  to  control  or  direct 
the  expenditure  of  money  and  the  tax-levying  power.  Such  funds 
ought  to  be  paid  out  for  legitimate  purposes  under  the  provisions  of  a 
general  school  law  of  this  State.  Where  there  are  diverse  bodies  or 
authorities  that  are  given  powers  to  inspect,  examine  or  sustain  the 
levy  in  such  a  way  that  there  may  be  a  system  of  check  and  account- 
ing, there  the  one-man-power  evil  in  the  expenditure  as  well  as  the 
procurement  of  money  will  not  exist.  Every  school  board  ought  to 
be  more  than  a  mere  tax-levying  and  tax-collecting  agent. 

I  think  I  remember  some  four  or  five  years  ago,  if  you  will  permit 
me  to  become  personal  for  a  moment,  when  I  contributed  to  the  pas- 
sage of  an  indefensible  law  at  Springfield.  That  law  was  a  mistake. 
I  will  not  say  it  was  a  mistake  so  far  as  it  related  to  the  particular 
results  that  followed  within  the  limits  of  that  district,  but  in  a  vital 
point,  the  uniformity  that  ought  to  characterize  every  state  school 
system  to  be  successful,  it  was  inexcusable.  The  arrangements  under 
which  that  legislation  was  originally  enacted  had  ceased  at  the  last 
session  of  the  Legislature.  It  was  repealed  because  I  believe  it  was 
regarded  as  an  extremely  vicious  legislative  precedent.  Even  legis- 
latures are  sometimes  bound  bv  precedents,  not  very  often  though; 
and  I  don't  blame  them.  Sometimes  they  don't  know  what  the 
precedents  are,  the  representatives  are  changed  by  you  so  often. 

Now  let  me  suggest  without  mentioning  any  names  here,  that  in 
this  special  school  district  evil,  for  I  so  regard  it  in  a  general  way, 
although  particular  instances  may  procure  good  results,  that  the  State 
Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction,  now  holding  office  in  this 
State  had  done  more  by  instruction  and  advice,  by  kindly  efforts  in 
the  promotion  of  legislation,  to  destroy  the  special  school  districts  in 
Illinois  than  any  other  official  in  the  history  of  this  State.  Let  me 
say  in  the  brief  time  remaining  that  if  I  were  a  member  of  Congress, 
and  may  a  merciful  and  beneficent  providence  never  visit  upon  me 
or  any  of  us  that  affliction — but,  if  I  were  a  member  of  Congress  (I 
say  that  advisedly) — I  am  taking  you  into  my  confidence  when  I  tell 
you  I  wouldn't  go  there  if  I  had  a  chance,  and  I  am  talking  in  earnest 

(348) 


39 

now,  and  not  by  the  way  of  jest  at  all;  but  if  I  were  a  member  of 
Congress  and  there  was  a  new  state  seeking  to  be  admitted  into  the 
Union  to  be  framed  out  of  territory  now  existing  under  territorial 
government,  there  would  not  be  a  solitary  dollar  granted  by  the 
United  States  government  to  that  newly-admitted  state — not  a  dollar 
in  money  for  the  purpose  of  creating  a  fund  to  be  distributed  among 
newly-created  states  for  school  purposes.  I  would  keep  the  money 
to  govern  the  islands  of  the  sea  or  to  govern  the  people  at  home  when 
they  need  governing. 

If  there  should  be  a  land-grant  connected  with  the  organic  act 
admitting  territories  to  the  Union,  that  land-grant  coming  from  the 
Congress,  ought  to  carrv  with  it  a  fixed  provision  that  not  one  acre  of 
that  land  should  ever  be  sold,  or  authorized  to  be  sold  by  the  general 
assembly  of  any  State. 

It  ought  to  be  inalienable.  If  that  provision  had  been  in  the  origi- 
nal grant  as  to  all  the  school  lands  in  Illinois,  there  would  today 
have  been  a  magnificient  domain  of  farm  land  in  Illinois  instead  of 
what  we  have.  Outside  of  Cook  County  the  lands  have  appreciated 
enormously  in  value.  Sometimes  there  may  have  been  periods  during 
panics  when  rents  were  small,  but  they  were  not  subject  to  taxation, 
and  as  property  has  increased  in  value  there  would  today  have  been 
a  fund  that  would  support  more  schools,  train  more  children,  make 
more  beautiful  school  houses,  hang  more  pictures  on  the  walls,  plant 
more  trees,  and  make  the  country  school  house  a  fit  place  for  your 
boys  and  girls  than  would  all  the  taxes  levied  in  Illinois  today  for 
school  purposes. 

The  state  school  system  must  be  expanded  with  the  growth  of  the 
State,  and  the  growing  need  of  the  people.  The  district  school  is  at 
the  foundation  and  answered  well  the  purposes  for  which  it  was 
intended.  It  answered  the  needs  of  pioneer  boys,  the  early  fabric  of 
American  life.  Later  it  became  necessary  that  the  State  establish 
and  support  an  institution  in  which  special  fields  of  learning  and 
research  are  open  to  the  student.  No  man  can  live  the  old  way.  We 
may  talk  about  the  primitive  days  of  our  great-grandfathers.  We 
may  talk  of  the  pioneers  of  Illinois  and  regret  that  we  cannot  now 
resort  to  their  methods  of  life;  it  would  be  impossible.  We  may 
regret  that  some  of  their  simplicity  has  not  survived,  some  of  their 
directness  of  purpose,  their  energy.  We  may  sometimes  think  we 
have  lost  something  in  the  transmission  from  then  till  now,  but  we 
must  remember  they  lived  under  widely  different  conditions. 

This  State  of  Illinois  was  a  prairie;  the  settlements  were  along  the 
rivers.  The  flatboat  owners  were  the  common  carriers  to  carry  what 
little  they  had  to  ship.  They  lived  the  simple  life,  that  is  true.  There 
is  nothing  to  hinder  anyone  from  living  the  simple  life  now;  but  don't 
forget  that  the  simple  life  of  1905  cannot  be  just  as  simple  as  it  was  in 

(349) 


40 

1805.     As  things  are  now,  the  capacities  and  the  possibilities  of  the 
present  life  are  enormously  multiplied. 

Human  beings  live  just  the  same  way  as  they  used  to;  they  still 
inhale  the  air,  and  take  food  and  require  exercise.  We  forget  that 
sometimes  in  the  cities,  but  the  civilization  of  today  is  such  as  to 
require  an  expansion  of  the  educational  system  of  Illinois  as  well  as  of 
other  states,  and  Illinois  will  show  herself  equal  to  that  requirement. 


MILITARY    EXERCISES 

1 :15  p.  M. 
PROGRAM 
Assembly  of  the  University  Regiment  on  Illinois  Field. 
Salute  (13  guns)  to  Major-General  John  F.  Weston  of  the  United  States 

Army. 
Escort  of  the  Color. 
Review  of  the  Regiment  by  Major-General  Weston,  representing  the 

War  Department  of  the  United  States. 
Parade. 

Exercises  at  the  Armory 

The  Honorable  Joseph  G.  Cannon,  Speaker  of  the  National  House  of 

Representatives   Presiding 

Music:     The  Mihtary  Band. 

Addresses:  The  Military  Training  of  the  Citizen  Soldier,  Major- 
General  Weston ;  Lieutenant-Colonel  Julius  R.  Kline  of  the  Illinois 
National  Guard. 

Music:     The  Military  Band. 


MILITARY  TRAINING  OF  THE  CITIZEN  SOLDIER 

Major-General  John  A.  Weston 

Commissary-General  of  the  United  States  Army 

The  formal  installation  of  the  President  of  this  famous  University 
is  the  occasion  of  this  notable  gathering;  and  a  feature  of  the  exercises 
is  a  short  address  which  I  have  been  invited  to  deliver  upon  the  form 
of  military  training  at  the  University.  The  subject  is  one  of  national 
concern  and  has  always  had  an  absorbing  interest  for  military  men. 

More  than  forty  years  have  elapsed  since  this  institution  of  learn- 
ing made  the  study  of  military  science  and  tactics  an  element  in  its 
educational  training  of  the  youth  of  the  land.  It  will  not  be  forgotten 
that  the  bill  creating  the  endowment  fund  for  the  purpose  was  signed 
by  Lincoln,  the  adopted  son  of  Illinois,  the  great  and  gentle  soul  who 
loved  his  country,  who  believed  in  her  future,  and  blessed  the  patriotic 

(350) 


41 

soldiery  that  made  possible  her  lofty  destiny.  Lincoln,  and  those 
allied  with  him  in  this  beneficent  scheme  for  advancing  the  interest 
and  defending  the  Hfe  of  the  Republic,  builded  better  than  they  knew, 
and  placed  posterity  under  lasting  obligation  by  this  exhibition  of 
wisdom  and  liberality.  The  law  which  gave  the  endowment  for  this 
purpose  was  passed  in  the  summer  of  1862,  when  "War  rocked  the 
continent;"  but  at  the  end  of  that  fratricidal  struggle  the  safety  of 
the  Republic  was  assured  and  brotherhood  and  union  secured  forever. 
These  things  the  nation  had  not  known  since  its  foundation  and  could 
never  perhaps  realize  without  passing  through  the  fiery  furnace  of 
war. 

At  the  present  time  there  are  seventy-nine  schools  and  colleges, 
representing  forty-three  states  and  territories  of  the  Union,  where 
militarv  instruction  is  afforded  the  students  under  the  direction  of 
officers  of  the  regular  army,  detailed  as  professors  of  military  science 
and  tactics.  This  list  does  not  include  a  number  of  similar  institu- 
tions, or  the  many  high  schools  and  others  where  some  form  of  military 
training  is  in  vogue.  The  subject  is  each  year  exciting  more  and  more 
interest.  Faculties  and  institutions  are  giving  loyal  support  to  the 
cause  which  means  so  much  to  the  country,  and  the  army  officers 
engaged  as  military  professors  are  ranked  as  members  of  the  faculty 
and  are  exhibiting  judgment,  tact  and  skill,  and  acquitting  themselves 
with  the  highest  of  credit.  The  future  gives  every  promise  of  a  happy 
continuance  of  this  condition  and  an  even  wider  sphere  of  usefulness 
to  this  admirable  system. 

The  government  is  fostering  a  proper  and  laudable  military  spirit 
in  the  youth  of  the  nation  by  more  liberal  appropriations,  affording 
completer  equipment  for  military  study  and  training.  The  President 
is  deeply  interested  in  the  cause  and  with  that  practical  and  far-seeing 
wisdom  with  which  he  is  gifted  has  authorized  the  announcement  that 
from  six  of  the  institutions  (where  officers  of  the  army  are  detailed  as 
military  instructors)  whose  students  exhibit  the  greatest  interest, 
application  and  proficiency  in  military  training  and  knowledge,  an 
appointment  as  second  lieutenant  in  the  army  from  each  one  of  the 
six  institutions  will  be  awarded  to  an  honor  graduate  who  has  taken  a 
military  course  thereat. 

This  policv  is  a  wise  one  and  as  it  should  be  in  a  republican  form 
of  government.  Its  sons  and  citizens  are  its  natural  defenders,  their 
courage  and  lives  are  its  strongest  bulwark,  as  they  are  the  safest 
guardians  of  their  own  rights  and  liberties.  In  the  event  of  a  war  on 
a  great  scale,  among  the  most  vital  needs  of  the  hour  would  be  trained 
officers.  To  supply  these,  the  country  in  such  a  time  would  have  to 
draw  upon  the  enlisted  strength  of  the  army,  upon  the  National  Guard, 
and  could  perhaps  in  a  limited  degree  call  upon  the  veterans  of  the 
Civil  and  Spanish  Wars.     But  all  of  these  sources  would  be  inadequate 

(351) 


42 

to  meet  the  demand.  How  necessary  it  is,  then,  that  this  younger 
race,  who  would  have  to  make  the  fight  and  who  have  the  destiny  of 
their  country  in  their  keeping,  should  be  educated  in  military  science, 
taught  a  love  for  the  country  and  the  flag,  and  fitted  for  the  sacred 
duty  of  a  soldier  as  well  as  a  citizen.  They  would  be  a  nucleus  upon 
which  to  form  our  armies,  a  body  of  trained  and  intelligent  patriots 
ready  at  a  moment's  notice  to  answer  the  call  of  their  country. 

Until  two  years  ago  the  militia  law  was  lacking  in  comprehensive- 
ness as  a  scheme  to  insure  the  efficiency  of  the  militia  of  the  country, 
and  Congress,  recognizing  the  essentials  which  it  lacked,  endeavored  to 
remedy  the  deficiency  by  the  passage  of  the  act  of  January  '31,  1903, 
which  revoked  and  remodeled  the  old  militia  law  and  system.  This 
act  is  likely  to  be  still  further  modified  and  extended  so  as  to  meet 
every  requirement  of  national  defense  and  place  the  militia  system  on 
an  entirely  satisfactory  foundation.  Congress  in  a  generous  spirit, 
having  increased  and  broadened  the  scope  of  the  law,  has  also  made 
more  liberal  appropriations.  In  a  few  years  it  has  increased  the  an- 
ual  appropriation  for  the  militia  from  four  hundred  thousand  dollars 
to  a  million  dollars.  This  goes  a  long  way  towards  affording  ade- 
quate equipment  and  facilities,  as  well  as  means  for  encampments 
and  maneuvers  on  a  large  and  instructive  scale. 

The  officers  of  the  National  Guard  can  under  conditions  prescribed 
by  the  present  militia  law  become  students  in  the  service  schools  of 
the  army,  and  thus  receive  instruction  and  derive  the  benefits  that 
come  from  such  an  admirable  system  of  training.  Under  the  same 
law  there  is  a  provision  for  an  eligible  list  by  which  trained  and 
competent  officers  are  to  hold  commissions  in  the  volunteer  force  and 
to  be  ready  to  answer  future  calls  and  emergencies  in  times  of  war. 

I  am  glad  and  deem  it  gracious  and  fitting  that  a  soldier  should  be 
invited  and  given  an  opportunity  to  interpret  to  those  who  come  from 
the  walks  of  civil  life  something  of  the  soldier's  feelings  and  aspira- 
tions, both  of  which  are  often  misunderstood  and  at  times  deliberately 
misjudged.  Criticisms  that  are  now  and  then  levelled  at  the  army 
are  unjust  and  unworthy  of  those  who  in  thoughtless  mood  give  ex- 
pression to  them. 

Soldiers  are  loyal  citizens  in  heart  and  purpose,  if  they  are  denied 
the  ballot.  Shut  out  from  the  ambitions  and  rewards  of  civic  life, 
they  are  none  the  less  devoted  and  consecrated  to  their  country's 
welfare,  and  love  with  passionate  devotion  the  flag  they  follow  and 
see  almost  hourly  in  their  lives.  It  is  to  them  the  symbol  of  power 
and  protection,  the  inspiration  and  hope  of  patriotic  devotion.  Our 
soldiers,  like  these  young  men  here,  come  from  the  body  of  the  people, 
are  matured  in  honest  homes,  many  are  graduated  from  the  colleges 
and  schools  of  the  land,  and  come  to  seek  honorable  careers  in  the 
military  service  of  their  country.     They  are  loyal,  respect  the  law  of 

(352) 


43 

the  land,  and  obey  the  orders  of  their  superiors;  and  as  a  beautiful 
illustration  of  this  spirit  I  have  only  to  cite  the  way  in  which  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  men  who  have  served  in  the  armies  of  the  Civil  war  on 
both  sides  returned  to  the  vocations  they  had  been  pursuing  before 
thev  enlisted.  There  was  no  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  victors  to 
upset  the  form  of  government,  there  was  none  on  the  part  of  the 
defeated  except  to  honestly  abide  by  the  terms  of  peace. 

There  is  perhaps  no  public  question  on  which  the  two  political 
parties  of  this  country  are  more  closely  united  than  on  that  of  the 
standing  armv.  Neither  of  them  wants  a  very  large  one.  That  is 
perhaps  as  it  should  be,  and  we  will  proceed  on  those  lines,  viz:  by 
educating  our  vouth  and  by  organizing  our  state  troops.  In  all  the 
wars  we  have  had,  perhaps  in  all  that  we  will  have  if  of  any  magni- 
tude, it  will  have  to  be  done  largely  by  our  volunteers. 

The  conditions  and  requirements  of  national  defense  have  been 
admirablv  stated  by  Colonel  Britton  of  the  National  Guard  of  New 
York,  who  said: 

"As  a  general  principle,  the  greatest  economy  of  man,  resources, 
and  time  in  the  conduct  of  war  lies  in  the  ability  of  a  country  to  put 
into  the  field,  with  the  least  delay,  the  largest  forces  that  may  be 
necessary,  properly  organized,  trained  and  equipped;  otherwise,  how- 
ever great  her  natural  resources,  experience  has  shown  that  final 
tritimph  has  been  dearly  bought  at  an  extravagant  price  in  blood  and 
treasure. " 

If  there  is  one  lesson  which  history  teaches  it  is  that  what  is  worth 
having  and  worth  holding  in  nations  or  individuals  must  be  defended. 
The  benefits  arising  from  early  training  cannot  be  over-estimated. 
It  stamps  lessons  that  last  for  life.  Whatever  impresses  and  appeals 
to  loyalty,  patriotism  and  constancy  is  not  lost.  Military  education 
insures  the  habits  of  neatness,  order,  subordination.  It  fosters  self- 
reliance  and  initiative — the  finest  qualities  of  the  soldier;  and  for 
these  the  American  stands  pre-eminent. 

A  citizen  soldiery  should  be  of  the  highest  type  in  a  republic  whose 
people  estabhsh  by  their  will  and  suffrage  the  form  of  government 
under  which  they  live  and  who  maintain  it  by  their  courage  and  virtue. 
Trained  in  the  paths  of  peace,  with  intellectual  development  and  lofty 
ideals,  such  a  body  can  never  betray  their  country  or  become  pliant 
tools  in  the  hands  of  selfish  and  designing  leaders.  Their  vision  is 
too  clear,  their  will  too  strong,  their  training  too  complete.  Not  until 
patriotism  declines  and  political  life  becomes  corrupt  will  they  con- 
nive at  the  overthrow  of  a  government  founded  in  their  will  and  wis- 
dom and  imder  which  they  can  from  the  humblest  station  rise  to  the 
highest  office  and  distinction. 

These  young  men  are  soon  to  fill  the  ranks  of  civil  life  and  pursue 
the   various   callings   they   severally   choose.     They   are   the   coming 

(353) 


44 

citizens,  rulers  and  defenders  of  their  native  and  adopted  land,  and 
the  military  knowledge  and  training  received  here  will  help  in  any 
field  of  endeavor.  And  when  the  crucial  hour  of  the  RepubHc  comes 
as  it  is  sure  to  do — for  universal  peace  is  an  idle  dreara,  as  Von  Moltke 
declared — and  the  fight  for  existence  begins  either  with  foes  from 
within  or  foes  from  without,  those  who  have  gone  out  from  institutions 
like  this  one  will  bring  elements  of  strength  into  the  struggle  that 
make  for  peace  and  honor,  and  may  prove  their  country's  salvation. 
They  will  not  fail  with  their  keen  intelligence  and  patriotism  to  ap- 
preciate the  benefits  of  a  free  and  enlightened  government,  and  feeling 
their  responsibility  and  knowing  the  blessings  at  stake,  will  defend 
the  Republic  with  every  energy  and  resource  at  their  command. 

After  the  battle  these  patriot  sons,  trained  in  a  school  which  sub- 
ordinates the  military  to  the  civil  power — which  is  in  accord  with  the 
genius  of  our  institutions  and  the  constitution  of  the  land — will  melt 
away  into  the  body  of  the  people,  resume  their  wonted  vocations,  and 
earnestly  strive  to  solve  the  problems  of  life  as  their  fathers  did  before 
them. 

If  I  should  admonish  these  coming  citizens  and  defenders  of  the 
land,  it  would  be  to  say  to  them,  "Know  thyself — all  wisdom  centers 
there — love  your  country,  study  and  have  faith  in  its  institutions, 
regard  it  as  a  privilege  to  fight  for,  aye  an  honor  to  die  for  it. " 


ADDRESS 


Lieutenant-Colonel  Julius  R.  Kline 
Of  the  Illinois  National  Guard 

I  feel  honored  that  I  have  been  selected  to  address  you  upon  an 
occasion  of  this  kind,  honored  indeed  that  you  have  called  upon  me 
to  represent  the  military  orgainzation  of  this  State,  and  more  than 
honored  that  it  is  my  privilege  to  bring  you  a  message  on  behalf  of 
the  descendants  of  the  men  who  followed  Lincoln,  Grant  and  Logan, 
and  who  today  are  ready  to  do  and  dare  in  defense  of  our  American 
institutions,  our  flag  and  our  country. 

Ever  since  the  time  that  men,  roving  alone  over  the  world  and 
longing  for  the  companionship  of  creatures  of  their  kind,  gathered  to- 
gether and  formed  the  tribe,  the  village,  the  city,  the  state  and  finally 
the  nation,  there  has  been  a  duty  incumbent  upon  each  and  every 
member  of  those  organizations  to  protect  that  combination  and  the 
laws  which  govern  the  same  to  the  extent  of  his  ability,  whether  it 
required  the  exercise  and  ingenuity  of  the  human  brain  or  whether  it 
required  physical  force  and  implements  of  destruction ;  and  that  duty 
to  protect  the  community  was  mandatory  upon  the  citizen.  Men  of 
the   higher  grade   of  intellectuality   and  the  product  of  the   higher 

(354) 


45 

civilization,  decry  the  wanton  killing,  maiming  and  wounding  of  their 
fellowman,  and  today  there  is  no  man  who  more  ardently  desires  peace 
than  he  who  has  taken  part  in  war.  Those  men  who  have  seen  the 
long  line  of  brown,  backed  by  the  line  of  blue,  who  have  heard  the 
bugle  sound  the  advance,  who  have  made  the  charge  and  heard  the 
singing  of  the  shot  and  shell  and  the  clashing  of  steel,  and  who  have 
seen  strong  men  in  the  prime  of  life  and  vigor  fall  helpless  and  stricken, 
who  have  passed  through  the  hospitals  and  heard  the  moans  and  cries 
of  the  sick  and  wounded, — those  men  today  are  the  first  to  echo  the 
words  of  General  Sherman,  "War  is  hell,  and  for  God's  sake  give  us 
peace!"  But  so  long  as  there  are  nations  composed  of  men  who  are 
actuated  bv  sordid  motives,  the  desire  of  aggrandizement  and  demand 
for  territorial  expansion,  and  who  are  ready  to  back  up  those  selfish 
and  sordid  motives  by  men  armed  with  steel  for  the  slaying  of  their 
kind,  just  so  long  will  there  be  a  necessity  for  the  military  within  the 
United  States;  but  to  the  eternal  credit  of  the  people  of  this  land  of 
freedom,  our  contentions  are  not  and  never  shall  be  based  upon  a 
sordid  desire  for  more  territory  or  greater  power,  and  such  armed 
force  shall  only  be  maintained  in  the  protection  of  our  homes,  our 
institutions  and  our  country.  So  often  as  the  necessity  for  war  arises, 
brought  about  bv  the  action  of  other  nations,  shall  this  nation  reaHze 
that  it  is  no  greater  than  its  natural  resources,  it  is  no  more  powerful 
than  its  army  and  navy. 

Under  such  conditions,  it  becomes  the  duty  of  every  state  to 
inculcate  into  the  minds  of  its  citizens  the  patriotic  motive, — the 
motive  that  will  actuate  them  to  prepare  and  become  available  for  the 
hour  of  the  state's  or  the  country's  need.  The  youth  of  today  is  the 
citizen  of  tomorrow,  and  to  the  citizen,  earnest,  unselfish  and  patriotic, 
the  state  and  the  country  must  ever  look  for  its  protection  and  its 
higher  welfare. 

A  valuable  adjunct  to  the  National  Guard  and  the  army  of  the 
United  States,  stand  the  miHtary  schools  of  this  country.  By  their 
perfect  system  of  training  in  the  hands  of  experienced  men,  they  place 
in  the  body  of  the  country  young  men  experienced  in  the  art  of  war- 
fare and  in  the  handling  of  the  weapon,  men  who,  by  reason  of  that 
experience  and  training,  are  able  to  train  other  men  and  make  them  a 
perfect  and  available  fighting  force.  The  National  Guard  also  serves 
a  higher  purpose  than  the  mere  training  of  men  to  warfare.  The 
National  Guard  does  not  pander  to  the  pride  of  men.  It  is  something 
more  than  a  body  which  allows  the  citizen  to  adorn  himself  in  all  the 
panoply  of  war  and  gratify  his  vanity  by  the  glare  and  glitter  of  brass ; 
it  teaches  those  men  who  enter  its  ranks  one  of  the  greatest  cardinal 
principles  of  life,  discipline,  the  finest  attribute  of  the  perfect  soldier. 
While  God  in  his  infinite  mercy  has  armed  us  with  all  the  attributes  of 
perfect  manhood,  has  given  us  eyes  to  see  the  hills  and  plains  and 

(355) 


46 

flowers,  mute  messengers  from  heaven  to  beautify  the  earth  and 
deHght  man's  sense,  ears  to  hear  the  soft  sighing  of  the  wind,  the  lan- 
guage of  the  wave  and  the  revealed  word  of  God  to  man,  conveying 
His  glorious  message  of  salvation  to  the  soul,  brains  and  intellect  to 
comprehend  the  beautiful  in  life  and  nature;  the  "still  small  voice"  to 
enable  us  to  distinguish  right  from  wrong ;  he  has  also  implanted  within 
our  breasts  hope,  the  well-spring  and  foundation  of  honest  ambition, 
the  actuating  force  of  honest  endeavor,  hope,  which  urges  us  on  to  do 
and  to  dare,  hope  which  brings  us  closer  to  wiser  and  nobler  things. 

But  with  all  these  inherent  forces  for  good,  men  are  controlled  by 
a  power  more  potent  and  with  more  control  over  the  individual  than 
any  outside  person  or  condition.  It  is  your  own  inclination,  it  is 
yourself,  and  mightier  than  kings  and  more  powerful  than  conquering 
heroes  is  the  man  who  can  control  his  own  inclinations  when  for  evil, 
and  the  overcoming  of  those  inclinations  brings  him  closer  to  the  God 
who  made  him  and  makes  him  a  better  man  and  a  better  citizen. 
The  National  Guard,  by  its  lessons  in  discipline,  brings  men  nearer  to 
control  of  themselves  than  any  lesson  that  can  be  taught  them  in  the 
schools  or  everyday  life.  It  teaches  them  the  responsibility  of  true 
citizenship,  it  says  to  them,  "We  protect  the  life  of  the  citizen  and 
the  morals  of  the  home  that  they  may  not  be  desecrated  or  infringed 
upon. "  It  means  the  protection,  in  short,  of  the  entire  people  of  the 
community  which  they  may  be  serving. 

Even  as  the  sun,  bring  orb  of  day,  sets  in  the  west,  and  the  moon, 
queen  of  the  night,  rises  in  all  its  glory  over  the  hills  and  plains  of  this 
great  sovereign  State,  from  the  beautiful  lakes  in  the  north  to  the 
mighty  river  of  the  south,  to  the  mighty  river  of  the  west,  and  over 
the  fertile  field  of  the  east,  four  million  people  sleep  more  securely  in 
the  knowledge  that  they  are  guarded  by  night  as  well  as  by  day  by 
eight  thousand  men,  sworn  to  fealty,  sworn  to  loyalty,  sworn  to  pro- 
tect them,  whose  motives  are  for  God,  for  their  country  and  for  Ameri- 
can institutions;  and  should  the  time  ever  come  when  men,  actuated 
by  selfish  principles  or  by  lack  of  self-control,  shall  dare  to  raise  the 
hand  of  war  against  the  cherished  institutions  of  this  State  or  of  the 
United  States,  these  men  will  find  that  back  of  the  cities  stand  the 
states  and  back  of  the  states  stand  those  men  who  are  ready  to  do  and 
to  dare,  who  are  ready  to  sacrifice  home  and  family,  yea,  even  life  itself, 
in  defense  of  their  country  and  its  laws ;  and  as  they  march  to  victory 
or  perchance  to  death,  under  that  beloved  emblem  of  our  nation, 
which  proclaims  liberty  and  equality  to  all  mankind,  in  their  hearts 
they  repeat  the  words  of  that  grand,  sweet  song, 
"My  country,  'tis  of  thee, 
Sweet  land  of  liberty. 
Of  thee  I  sing.  " 


(356) 


47 

THE  STUDENTS'  PLAY 
PROGRAM 

At  the  Plaie-House  in  Champaign 
Tuesday  Evening  the  seventeenth  of  October  1905 
.4  Right  Wonderfull  Comedie 
cald 
THE  HOXORABLE  HI  ST  OKIE  OF 

FRIER  BACON  AND  FRIER  BUNGAY 

As  it  was  plaid  by  her  Maiesties  servants 

In  London  towne  1589 

Made  by  Robert  Greene  Maister  of  Arts 

Acted  for  the  first  time  in  this  countrie,  by  the  present  companie 

of  students,  in  this  Plaie-house,  the 

eighth  of  Maie  1905 

Heere  follow  the  names  of  all  the  platers: 

Edward,  Prince  of  Wales,  sonne  to  King  Henry.  .William  T.  Gordley 

Raphe  Simnell,  the  Kings  Foole R.  C.  Matthews 

Xed  Lacie,  Earle  of  Lincoln Herman  G.  James 

John  Warren,  Earle  of  Sussex Louis  W.  Mack 

Will  Ermsbie,  a  Gentleman Harry  P.  Reeves 

Frier  Bacon Allan  J.  Carter 

Miles,  Frier  Bacons  Poore  Scholer Earl  Q.  Snyder 

Burden,  Doctor  of  Oxford  and  Maister  of  Brazennose 

Alexander  H.  Gunn 

Clement,  Doctor  of  Oxford Roswell  T.  Pettit 

The  Hostess  at  Henly,  Mistress  of  the  Bell Tirzah  Bradley 

A  Devill ' John  S.  Kendall 

Thomas,  a  Farmers  sonne David  S.  Meadows 

Jone,  a  Farmers  Daughter Edith  Spray 

Margret,  the  Keepers  Daughter  of  Fresingfield Lois  Clendenin 

Ruth  Taylor 

Sarah  Conard 

Miriam  Roberts 

Gertrude  Weir 

F.  H.  Lindley 

C.  E.  Smith 

Hiram   Powers 

Arthur  Aikman 

J.  Lloyd  Jones 

Jaques  Vandermast,  a  Germaine Howard  G.  Brownsbn 

King  of  Castile , Herbert  L.  Tear 

Elinor,  Daughter  to  Castile Irene  M.  Parsons 

King  Henry  the  Third Will  J.  Carey 

Frier  Bungay Roscoe  C.  Main 

Constable David  S.  Meadows 

(357) 


Ladves  of  the  Court 


Gentlemen  of  the  Court 


48 

Hercules Lawrence  T.  Allen 

Lambert,  a  Countrie  Gentleman J.  L.  Bannon 

The  Keeper  of  Fresingfield George  H.  Anderson 

Serlsbie,  a  Countrie  Gentleman Homer  W.  Harper 

A  Post-boy Roswell  T.  Pettit 

Young  Lambert Alexander  H.  Gunn 

Young  Serlsbie Howard  G.  Brownson 

A  Table  of  the  Severall  Scenes  in  the  Comedie 
Act  I    — Scene  1 — The  countrie  side  in  Fremingham. 

Scene  2 — Bacons  study  at  Brazennose  Colledge  in  Oxford. 

Scene  3 — Neere  Harlston  Faire. 
Act  II  — Scene  1 — The  Court  at  Hampton  House. 

Scene  2 — Oxford. 

Scene  3 — Bacons  Study. 

(The  front   of   the   stage  shewes  what   is   seene  in  the  prospective 
glasse.) 

Act  III — Scene  1 — The  Regent  House  at  Oxford. 

Scene  2 — The  contrie  side  at  Fresingfield. 

Scene  3 — Bacons  Study. 
Act  IV — Scene  1 — Bacons  Study. 

Scene  2 — The  Court. 

Scene  3 — Bacons  Study. 

(Heere  likewise  the  front  of  the  stage  represents  what  is  seene  in  the 
prospective  glasse.) 

Act  V  — Scene  1 — Neere  the  Keepers  Lodge. 

Scene  2 — An  open  place. 

Scene  3 — The  Court. 

The  Patronesses  of  this  Plaie  are 

Mistresse  Edmund  Janes  James 

Mistresse  David  Kinley 

Mistresse  Daniel  Kilham  Dodge 

Mistresse  Thomas  Arkle  Clark 

Mistresse  Edward  Fulton 

Mistresse  Edward  Chauncey  Baldwin 

Mistresse  Johii  Quincy  Adams 

The  Direction  of  the  plaiers  has  beene  the  care  of 

Maister  Thacher  Howland  Guild 

The  care  of  moneys  and  suchlike  businesse  dutees  has  been 

the  paines  of 

Maister  Frank  William  Scott 

The  sundrie  thinges  about  the  stage  have  beene 

paid  attention  to  by 

Maister  Lester  E.  Rein  and  Maister  John  Stehmen 

The  Maister  of  Fence  is 

Maister  Everett  B.  Murray 

(358) 


49 

Wednesday,  October  18,  9:00  a.m. 

FORMAL  RECEPTION  OF  DELEGATES 

AT  THE  Armory 

PROGRAM 

Judge  Oliver  A.  Marker,  Dean  of  the  College  of  Law,  Presiding 
Address  of  Welcome:     Judge  Oliver  A.  Harker. 
Roll   Call   of   Foreign   Universities:      Responses   by    Representatives 

bringing  Congratulatory  Addresses. 
Roll  Call  of  American  Universities:      Responses  by  Representatives 

bringing  Congratulatory  Addresses. 
Roll   Call   of  Learned   Societies   and   Other   Bodies:      Responses  by 

Representatives  bringing  Congratulatory  Addresses. 
Brief  Addresses : — 

Foreign  Universities:  Henry  T.  Bovey,  LL.D.,  M.  Inst.  C.  E., 
F.R.S.,  Dean  of  the  Faculty  of  AppHed  Science,  McGill  Uni- 
versity, Montreal. 

The  State  Universities:  James  Burrill  Angell,  LL.D.,  President  of 
the  University  of  Michigan. 

The  Universities  of  the  East:  Ira  Remsen,  M.D.,  Ph.D.,  LL.D., 
President  of  Johns  Hopkins  University. 

The  Universities  of  the  West:  Frank  Strong,  Ph.D.,  Chancellor  of 
the  University  of  Kansas. 

The  Universities  of  the  South:  Edwin  Boone  Craighead,  LL.D., 
President  of  Tulane  University. 

The  Universities  and  Techincal  Schools  of  the  State:  Harry  Pratt 
Judson,  LL.D.,  Dean,  University  of  Chicago. 

The  Colleges  of  the  State:  Charles  Henry  Rammelkamp,  Ph.D., 
President  of  Illinois  College. 

The  Normal  Schools  of  the  State:  John  Williston  Cook,  LL.D., 
President  of  the  Northern  Illinois  State  Normal  School. 

The  High  Schools  of  the  State:  James  E.  Armstrong,  A.M.,  Princi- 
pal of  the  Englewood  High  School. 

The  Elementary  Schools  of  the  State:  Honorable  Alfred  Bayliss, 
B.A.,  State  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction. 


1359) 


50 

LIST  OF  DELEGATES 
Universities  and  Colleges 

University  of  Oxford:     Professor  Edward  B.  Titchener,  A.  M.,  Ph.D. 
University  of  Cambridge:     Dean  H.  T.  Bovey,  LL.D.,  M.  Inst.  C.  E., 

F.R.s! 
Queen's  College,  Oxford:     Professor  G.  W.  Greenwood,  A.M. 
Gonville  and  Caius  College,  Cambridge:     Professor  F.  F.  Westbrook, 

A.M.,  M.D.,  CM. 
Trinity  Hall,  Cambridge:     Lathum  Gallup  Reed,  B.A.,  LL.B. 
University  of  Glasgow:     Mr.  William  Robert  Lang. 
Queen's  College,   Cambridge:     Dean   H.   T.   Bovey,   LL.D.,  M.   Inst. 

C.  E.,  F.R.S. 
Brasenose  College,  Oxford:     Professor  B.  Titchener,  A.M.,  Ph.D. 
Royal  College  of  Physicians  of  Edinburg:     Dr.  James  Crawfurd  Dun- 
lop,  F.R.C.P.E.;  Professor  John  Clarence  Webster,  F.R.C.P.E. 
McGill  College  and  University:     Dean  H.  T.  Bovey,  LL.D.,  M.  Inst. 

C.  E.,  F.R.S. 
University  of  Toronto:     George  H.  Locke,  Ph.D. 
St.  David's  College:     Right  Reverend  D.  Williams. 
Polytechnische  Lehranstalt,  Copenhagen:     Mr.  L.  Storm. 
Technische  Hochschule,  Hannover:     Mr.  C.  L.  Stroebel. 
Queen's  University,   Kingston,   Ontario:     Professor  William  T.   Mc- 

Clement,  M.  A. 
Trinity  College,  Toronto:     Right  Reverend  C.  T.  Anderson,  D.C.L. 
Victoria    University    of    Manchester,     England:     Professor     Ernest 

Ritson  Dewsnup,  M.A.,  F.R.G.S.,  F.S.S. 
University  of  Madras,  India:     S.  Satthianathan,  M.A.,  LL.D. 
College  of  Engineering,  Madras,  India:    S.  Satthianathan,  M.A.,  LL.D. 
Royal  Real  Instituto  tecnico  superiore,  Milan,  Italy:     Phillip  Porchio. 
Keble  College,   Oxford  Unversity:      Reverend  John  Charles  Roper, 

D.D. 
American  School  of  Classical  Studies,  Athens:     Professor  Paul  Shorey, 

Ph.D. 
University  of  Leeds,  England:     Mr.  Percy  Nicholls,  B.Sc. 
Reid  Christian  College,  Lucknow,  India:     Reverend  J.  N.  West,  M.A. 
Harvard  University:     Professor  Abbott  Lawrence  Lowell,  B.A.,  LL.B. 
Yale  University:     Professor  R.  H.  Chittenden,  Ph.D. 
University  of  Pennsylvania:     Professor  Simon  N.  Patten,  A.M.,  Ph.D. 
Princeton  Uinversity:     Ernest  C.  Richardson,  A.M.,  Ph.D. 
Washington  and  Lee  University:     President  George  H.  Denny,  A.M., 

Ph.D.,  LL.D. 
Columbia  University:     Professor  James  McKeen  Cattell,  A.M.,  Ph.D. 
Brown  University:     Mr.  Donald  L.  Morrill,  A.B. 
Rutgers  College:     Professor  Graham  Taylor,  D.D. 

(360) 


51 

Dartmouth  College:     Professor  Harlow  S.  Person,  Ph.D.;  Mr.  Henry 

H.  Hilton.  A.B. 
Georgetown  University:     Mr.  Patrick  H.  O'Donnell,  A.B.,  LL.B. 
Dickinson  College:     President  George  Edward  Reed,  S.T.D.,  LL.D. 
Western  University  of  Pennsylvania:     Chancellor  S.  B.  McCormick, 

A.M.,  D.D.,  LL.D. 
University  of  Tennessee:     President  Brown  Ayers,  Ph.D. 
University    of   Vermont:     President    Matthew    H.    Buckham,    D.D., 

LL.D.' 
University    of   Georgia:     Chancellor   Walter    B.    Hill,    A.M.,    LL.D.; 

President  H.  C.  White,  Ph.D.,  of  the  College  of  Agriculture  and 

Mechanical  Arts. 
Washington  and  Jefferson  College:     President  James  D.  Moffat,  D.D., 

LL.D. 
United  States  Military  Academy,  West  Point:     Mr.  Charles  L.  Ham- 
mond. 
Vincennes  University:     President  Horace  Ellis,  Ph.D. 
Andover  Theological  Seminary:     Reverend  Pearse  Pinch. 
Hamilton  College:     Myron  H.  Beach,  LL.D. 

Alleghenv  College:     President  Henry  William  Crawford,  A.M.,  D.D. 
Indiana  University:     President  William  L.  Bryan,  A.M.,  Ph.D. 
George  Washington  University:     President  Charles  Willis  Needham, 

LL.D. 
Central  University:     President  Frederick  William  Hinitt,  Ph.D.,  D.D. 
Miami  University:     President  Guy  Potter  Benton,  A.M.,  D.D. 
Kenvon  College:     President  William  Foster  Peirce,  A.M.,  L.H.D. 
Western  Reserve  University:     Professor  Charles  Harris,  Ph.D. 
Shurtleff  College:     President  J.  D.  S.  Riggs,  A.M.,  Ph.D.,  LL.D. 
McKendree  College:     President  McKendree  Hypes  Chamberlin,  A.M., 

LL.D. 
Illinois  College:     President  C.  H.  Rammelkamp,  A.M.,  Ph.D. 
St.  Loms  University:     Eugene  C.  Slevin,  A.M. 
McCormick  Theological  Seminary:     President  James  Gore  King  Mc- 

Clure,  D.D.;  Professor  Andrew  C.  Zenos,  A.M.,  D.D. 
Dension  University:     Dean  Francis  W.  Shepardson,  Ph.D.;  Principal 

J.  Stanley  Brown,  A.M. 
New  York  University:     Professor  Frederick  W.  Carpenter,  Ph.D. 
Wabash  College:     President  William  P.  Kane,  D.D. 
Oberlin  College:     President  Henry  Churchill  King,  B.D.,  A.M.,  D.D. 
Haverford  College:     Professor  Arthur  M.  Charles. 
Hartford  Theological  Seminary :     Reverend  William  A.  Bartlett,  D.D. ; 

Professor  Austin  Bradley  Bassett. 
Union    Theological    Seminary:     Professor    William    Adams    Brown, 

Ph.D.,  D.D. 
Mt.  Holyoke  College:     Mrs.  Zella  Allen  Dixon. 

(361) 


52 

Rush  Medical  College:     Professor  A.  C.  Cotton,  A.  M.,  M.  D. 
Knox  College:     President  Thomas  McClelland,  B.D.,  A.M.,  D.D. 
University  of  Michigan:     President  James  B.  Angell,  LL.D. 
University  of  Missouri :     Acting  President  J.  C.  Jones,  Ph.D. ;  Professor 

G.  E.  Ladd,  A.M.,  Ph.D.;  Doctor  A.  L.  McRae,  S.  D. 
University  of  Notre  Dame:     Reverend  J.  W.  Cavanaugh,  C.S.C. 
Albion  College:     President  Samuel  Dickie,  M.S.,  LL.D. 
Iowa   Wesleyan    University:     President   John    W.    Hancher,    A.    M., 

S.T.D. 
Ohio  Wesleyan  University:     President  Herbert  Welch,  D.D.;  Dean 

W.  F.  Whitlock,  D.D.,' LL.D. 
Earlham  College:     President  Robert  Lincoln  Kelly,  Ph.D.;  Professor 

Arthur  M.  Charles;  Mr.  Morris  E.  Cox. 
Illinois  Woman's  College:     President  Joseph  R.  Harker,  Ph.D.;  Mr. 

A.  K.  HoUowell. 
Beloit    College:     President    Edward    Dwight    Eaton,    D.D.,    LL.D." 

Professor  Robert  C.  Chapin,  B.D. 
Otterbein  University:     President  Lewis  Bookwalter,  A.M.,  D.D. 
Lawrence  University:     President  Samuel  Plantz,  S.T.B.,  Ph.D.,  D.D. 
University  of  Wisconsin :     President  Charles  R.  VanHise,  M.S.,  Ph.D. ; 

Professor  WilHam  A.  Scott,  Ph.D.;  Dean  E.  E.  Turneaure,  C.E. 
Iowa  College:     Dean  John  Hanson  Thomas  Main,  Ph.D.;  Professor 

Bruce  Fink. 
College  of  the  City  of  New  York:     President  John  Hustan  Finley, 

Ph.D.,  LL.D. 
Rockford  College:     President  Julia  Henrietta  Gulliver. 
University  of  Rochester:     Professor  C.  C.  Pickett,  A.M.,  LL.B. 
Hiram  College:     President  C.  C.  Rowlinson,  A.B.,  vS.T.B. 
Illinois    Wesleyan    University:     President    Frank    G.    Barnes,    A.B., 

D.D. ;  Pofessor  Robert  Orlando  Graham,  M.A.,  Ph.D. ;  Judge  Owen 

Thornton  Reeves,  LL.D. 
Austin  College:     President  Delmar  R.  Bebont. 
Lasell  Seminary:     Miss  Nora  J.  Burroughs. 
Christian    Brothers'    College:     Professor    Ralston    T.    Wilbur,    M.E.; 

Reverend  Brother  Bernadine  Robinson,  A.M. 
Ripon  College:     President  R.  C.  Hughes,  A.  M.,  D.D. 
Lombard  University:     President  Lewis  Beals  Fisher,  D.D. 
Westminster  College:     President  David  R.  Kerr,  D.D.,  Ph.D. 
Hedding  College:     President  Harry  B.  Gough,  A.B. 
University  of  Mississippi:     President  Robert  B.  Fulton,  A.  M.,  LL.D. 
Northwestern  University:     Acting  President  Thomas  Franklin  Hol- 

gate,  A.M.,  Ph.D.;  Professor  Henry  Crew,  Ph.D.;  Professor  James 

Alton  James,  Ph.D.;  Professor  Charles  Louis  Mix,  A.M.,  M.D. 
Western  College  for  Women:     President  Lilian  W.  Johnson,  Ph.D.; 

Dean  Mary  A.  Sawyer. 

(362) 


53 

Butler  College:     Professor  Thomas  Carr  Howe. 

Eureka  College:     President  Robert  Enoch  Hieronymus,  A.M. 

Hillsdale  College:     President  Joseph  WilHam  Mauck,  A.M.,  LL.D. 

Bethel  College:     President  William  H.  Harrison,  M.A. 

Western  Theological  Seminary   (Alleghany):     Reverend  Thomas  D. 

Logan. 
Monmouth    College:     President    Thomas    Hanna    McMichael,    A.M., 

B.D.,  D.D. 
Cornell  College:     President  Fletcher  King,  D.D.,  LL.D. 
Illinois  State  Normal  School:     President  David  Felmley,  A.B. 
Michigan     Agricultural     College:     President     Jonathan     Le     Moyne 

Snyder,  Ph.D. 
Upper  Iowa  University:     President  William  A.  Shanklin,  D.D. 
Baker  University:     President  Lemuel  Herbert  Murlin,  D.D.,  S.T.D. 
St.  Lawrence  University:     President  Almon  Gunnison,  D.D.,  LL.D. 
Chicago    Theological    Seminary:     President    Joseph    Henry    George, 

A.M.,  Ph.D.;  Professor  Graham  Taylor,  D.D. 
Lucy  Cobb  Institute:     Principal  M.  A.  Lipscomb. 
Pennsylvania  State  College:     President  George  W.  Atherton,  LL.D. 
Washington  University:     Professor  Calvin  M.  Woodward,  A.B.,  Ph.D. 
Olivet  College:     President  Ellsworth  G.  Lancaster,  Ph.D. 
Adrian  College:     Professor  H.  L.  Freeman. 
Lenox  College:     President  F.  W.  Grossman,  D.D. 
Blackburn  College:     President  Thomas  W.  Lingle,  M.  A. 
Augustana    College    and    Theological    Seminary:     President    Gustav 

Andreen,    D.D.,  Ph.D.;     Professor  Carl   Esbjorn;    Vice-President 

Conrad  E.  Lindberg,  D.D. 
Louisiana  State  University:    President  Thomas  D.  Boyd,  A.M.,  LL.D. 
St.  Francis  Solanus  College:     Vice-President  P.  F.  Hansser. 
Wheaton  College:     President  Charles  A.  Blanchard,  D.D. 
Northwestern  College:     President  H.  J.  Kiekhoefer,  A.M.,  Ph.D. 
Grand  Prairie  Seminary  and  Commercial  College:     S.  D.  Benthuysen. 
Washburn  College:     President  Norman  Plass,  A.M.,  B.D. 
Westfield  College:     President  W.  R.  Shuey. 
Lincoln  College:     President  J.  H.  McMurray,  A.M. ;  Professor  Herbert 

Earle  Buchanan,  A.M. 
Vassar  College:     Mrs.  Edward  Fulton,  A.B. 

Pritchett  College:     President  U.  S.  Hall,  A.B.;   Dr.  C.  C.  Hemanway. 
Lincoln  Institute:     President  B.  F.  Allen. 

New  Hampshire  College  of  Agriculture  and  Mechanical  Arts:     Presi- 
dent William  David  Gibbs,  M.S. 
University  of  Kansas:     Chancellor  Frank  Strong,  A.M.,  Ph.D. 
Carleton   College:     President   William   Henry   Sallmon,   A.M.,   D.D.; 

WilHam  M.  Payne,  Ph.D.;  Mr.  E.  A.  Fath. 
Fisk  University:     President  James  Griswold  Merrill,  D.D. 

(363) 


54 

Kentucky   Wesley  an   University:     President  John   Langdon  Weber, 

D.D.,  Litt.D. 
Garrett  Biblical  Institute:     Professor  Charles  Macaulay  Stuart,  M.A., 

B.D.,  D.D. 
University  of  Maine:     President  George  E.   Fellows,   Ph.D.,   LL.D., 

L.H.D. 
University  of  Minnesota:     Professor  John  J.  Flather,  M.M.E. 
West   Virginia    University:     President    Daniel    B.    Purinton,    Ph.D., 

LL.D. 
Cornell   University:     Professor  Edward   B.   Titchener,   A.M.,   Ph.D.; 

Professor  Waterman  Thomas  Hewitt,  Ph.D. 
St.  Viateur's  College:     Reverend  M.  J.  Marsile,  C.S.V.;  Reverend  E.  L. 

Rivard,  C.S.V.,  D.D.,  Ph.D. 
University  of  the  South:     Vice-Chancellor  Benjamin  E.  Wiggins,  A.M. 
Ewing  College:     President  Julius  A.  Leavitt,  D.D.;  Reverend  George 

C.  Moor,  A.  M.,  Ph.D.,  D.D. 
Iowa   State   College   of  Agriculture   and   Mechanic   Arts:     President 

Albert  Boynton  Storms,  A.M.,  D.D. 
St.  Mary's  School:     President  Charles  Wesley  Leffingwell,  D.D. 
Swarthmore  College:     President  Joseph  Swaim,  A.M.,  LL.D. 
University  of  Nebraska:     Chancellor  E.   Benjamin  Andrews,   D.D., 

LL.D. 
Ohio  State  University:     President  William  Oxley  Thompson,  A.M., 

LL.D.;  Dean  Edward  Orton,  Jr.,  M.E. 
Leland  University:     President  R.  W.  Perkins,  A.M.;    Mr.  James  S. 

Dickerson. 
University  of  Cincinnati:     President  Charles  William  Dabney,  Ph.D., 

LL.D.;    Reverend   Henry  Melville  Curtis,  D.D.;    Professor  Louis 

Trenchard  More,  Ph.D. 
Stevens  Institute  of  Technology:     Professor  Morgan  Brooks,  M.E. 
Buchtel  College:     President  A.  B.  Church,  D.D. 
Carthage     College:     President     Frederick     Lester     Sigmund,     D.D.; 

Professor  William  Kuhns  Hill,  A.M. 
Colorado  Schools  of  Mines:     President  Victor  Clifton  Alderson,  A.M., 

Sc.D.;  Mr.  Joseph  S.  Jaffa. 
Drury  College:     President  J.  Edward  Kirbye,  D.D.;  Professor  Edward 

M.  Shepard,  Ph.D. 
Hardin   College:     President  John   Wilson   Million,   A.M.;   Mrs.   John 

Wilson  MiUion. 
Purdue  University:     President  Winthrop  E.  Stone,  Ph.D. 
Colorado  College:     President  William  F.  Slocum,  B.D.,  LL.D.;  Dean 

Edward  S.  Parsons, 'A.M.,  B.D. 
St.  Olaf  College:     President  John  N.  Kildahl,  D.D. 
Smith  College:     Mrs.  Alice  Peloubet  Norton. 
Welleslev  College:     Mrs.  Norman  Frederick  Thompson,  A.B. 

(364) 


55 

Vanderbilt    University:       President    J.    H.    Kirkland,    A.M.,    Ph.D., 

D.C.L.,  LL.D. 
Parsons  College:     President  W.  E.  Parsons,  D.D. 
Johns  <  Hopkins    University:     President    Ira   Remsen,   M.D.,   Ph.D., 

LL.D. 
Lake  Forest  College:     President  Richard  Davenport  Harlan,   D.D., 

LL.D.;  Professor  Lewis  Stuart,  A.M.,  Ph.D.  , 

Shorter  College:     President  T.  J.  Simmons,  A.M. 
University  of  Colorado:     President  James  H.  Baker,  LL.D. 
Ogden  College:     President  William  Alexander  Obenchain,  A.M. 
Creighton  University:     Mr.  Charles  F.  Crowley. 
Art  Institute  of  Chicago:     Director  William  M.  R.  French,  A.B. 
Case  School  of  Applied  Sciences:     President  Charles  Sumner  Howe, 

Ph.D. 
Tuskegee  Institute :     Mr.  Robert  W.  Taylor. 
Paul  Ouinn  College:     Reverend  F.  J.  Peterson. 
Yankton  College:     President  Henry  K.  Warren,  D.D. 
University  of  South  Dakota:     President  Garrett  Droppers,  A.B. 
Tarkio  College:     President  J.  A.  Thompson,  D.D. 
Universitv  of  North  Dakota:     President  Webster  Merrifield,  A.M. 
Western  Theological  Seminary  (Chicago):     Reverend  N.  B.  Atcheson. 
American  International  College:     President  Samuel  H.  Lee,  M.A. 
Pratt  Institute:     President  Charles  M.  Pratt,  A.B.;  Miss  Myrn  Brock- 

ett,  B.  L. 
Midland  College:     President  F.  M.  Troxell,  A.M.,  D.D. 
South  Dakota  Agricultural  College:     President  James  Chalmers,  D.D., 

LL.D. 
New  Mexico  School  of  Mines:     President  Charles  Rollin  Keyes,  A.M., 

Ph.D.;  Professor  Robert  N.  Noble. 
Catholic  University  of  America:   Professor  Daniel  W.  Shea,  A.M.,  Ph.D. 
Throop  Polytechnic  Institute:     Norman  Bridge,  M.D. 
University  of  Chicago:     Dean   Harry   Pratt  Judson,   A.   M.,   LL.D.; 

Professor  Thomas  Chrowder  Chamberlin,  Ph.D.,  LL.D.;  Professor 

Paul  Shorey.  Ph.D.;  Professor  Shailer  Mathews,  D.D.;  Mr.  Wallace 

Heckm.an. 
University  of  Oklahoma:     President  David  R.  Boyd,  A.M.,  Ph.D. 
Armour   Institute  of  Technology:     President   Frank  W.   Gunsaulus, 

D.D.;  Mr.  Fred  U.  Smith. 
Fairmount  College:     President  Nathan  Jackson  Morrison,  D.D.,  LL.D. 
Greenville   College:     President   Augustin   L.   Whitcomb,   M.S.;  Vice- 
President  E.  G.  Burritt,  A.M.;  Reverend  John  La  Due,  A.B. 
Graceland  College:     Vice-President  Rolland  M.  Stewart,  B.A. 
Lewis  Institute:     Director  Geo.  H.  Carman,  A.M. 
Eastern  Illinois  State  Normal  School:     President  Livingston  C.  Lord, 

LL.D. 

(365) 


56 

Chicago  Law  School:     Chancellor  J.  J.  Tobias. 
Simmons  College:     President  Henry  Lefavour,  Ph.D.,  LL.D. 
James  Milliken  University:     Albert  Reynolds  Taylor,  Ph.D. 
Carnegie  Technical  Schools:     Director  Arthur  A.  Hammerschlag. 
Forest  Park  University:     President  Anna  Sneeds  Cairn,  A.M. 

United  States  Army 
Major-General  John  F.  Weston,  U.  S.  A. 

Illinois  National  Guard 
Adjutant   General,   State   of   Illinois,   Brigadier-General   Thomas   W. 

Scott. 

Learned  Societies 
American  Philosophical  Society :     Professor  Thomas  Chrowder  Cham- 

berlin,  A.M.,  Ph.D.,  LL.D.;  Professor  A.  W.  Moore,  Ph.D. 
The  College  of  Physicians:     Nicholas  Senn,  M.D. 
American   Academy   of  Medicine:     W.    S.    Hall,   M.D.;   Charles   Mc- 

Intire,  M.D. 
American  Society  of  Civil  Engineers:     Octave  Chanute,  C.E.;  Robert 

Moore. 
American  Institute  of  Architects:     William  B.  Mundie;  William  W. 

Clay. 
Chicago  Academy  of  Sciences:     Professor  Thomas  Chrowder  Cham- 

berlin,  A.M.,  Ph.D.,  LL.D. 
American  Philological  Association:     Professor  Edward  Capps,  Ph.D. 
American  Institute  of  Mining  Engineers:     H.  L.  HolHs;  Edward  C. 

Potter. 
American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers:     Professor  Charles  Henry 

Benjamin;  Professor  Robert  H.  Fernald. 
American   Water   Works   Association:     Professor   Daniel   W.    Mead; 

John  W.  Alvord,  C.E. 
Illinois   Society   of   Engineers   and   Surveyors:     Dabney   H.    Maury; 

John  W.  Alvord,  C.E.;  Daniel  W.  Mead;  Edward  Ernest  Russell 

Trautman. 
American  Folklore  Society:     Arthur  Llewellyn  Eno,  A.M. 
American    Mathematical    Society:     Professor   Arthur    S.    Hathaway, 

B.Sc. 
American  Academy  of  Political  and  Social  Science:     Professor  Simon 

Nelson  Patton,  A.M.,  Ph.D. 
American  Psychological  Association :     Professor  Joseph  Jastrow,  A.M. , 

Ph.D.;   Professor  J.  McKeen  Cattell,  A.M.,  Ph.D. 
Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Engineering  Education:     Professor  Cal- 
vin Milton  Woodward,  A.B.,  Ph.D. 
American    Society    of    Municipal    Improvements:     Professor    Arthur 

Newell  Talbot,  C.E.;  Professor  A.  Prescott  Folwell,  C.E. 
Washington    Academy    of    Sciences:     Professor    Thomas    Chrowder 

(366) 


Chamberlin.  A.M..  Ph.D.,  LL.D.;  President  Charles  Richard  Van 
Hise,  M.S.,  Ph.D.,  LLD. 
American  Society  for  Testing  Materials:     Professor  William  Kendrick 

Hatt. 
American  Railway  Engineering  and  Maintenance  of  Way  Association : 
Professor  William  D.  Pence,  B.S. 

Religious  Organizations 
Board  of  Education  of   the   Methodist   Episcopal   Church:     William 

F.  Anderson,  D.D.,  Secretary. 
Presbyterian  Synod  of  Illinois:     Reverend  G.  J.  E.  Richards,  Stated 

Clerk. 
Religious  Education  Association:     President  Henry  Churchill  King, 
A.M.,  D.D. 

Agricultural  Organizations 
United  States  Department  of  Agriculture,  Office  of  Experiment  Sta- 
tions, Washington,  D.  C. :     A.  C.  True,  Director. 
Agricultural  Experiment  Station,  Madison,  Wis.:     Dean  William  A. 

Henrv. 
Kentucky  Agricultural  Experiment  Station:     Director  M.  A.  Scovell. 
Oklahoma  Agricultural  Experiment  Station:     L.  A.  Moorhouse. 
State  Farmers'  Institute:     Board  of  Directors — A.  D.  Barber,  Joseph 
Newman,  B.  R.  Pierce,  John  H.  Houseman,  John  M.  Clark,  Ralph 
W.  Chittenden,  B.  F.  Wyman,  Wm.  H.  Lyford,  Ralph  Allen,  F.  I. 
Mann,  A.  P.  Grout,  E.  W.  Burroughs,  J.   F.  McCartney;  H.  A. 
Aldrich,  C.  P.  Reynolds,  M.  K.  Sweet,  James  Frake,  J.  F.  Rehm, 
J.  P.  Mason,  A.  N.  Abbott,  George  W.  Dean,  S.  B.  Mason,  E.E. 
Chester,  Edward  Grimes,  A.  V.  Schermerhorn,  H.  G.  Easterly. 
Illinois  Live  Stock  Breeders' Association:     Joseph  R.  Fulkerson,  J.  H. 

Kincaid,  A.  P.  Grout. 
Illinois  Corn  Growers'  Association:     E.  E.  Chester. 
State  Board  of  Live  Stock  Commissioners:     W.  P.  Smith. 
State  Farmers'  Elevator  Association:     Thomas  Lambe,  Jr.,  Lee  Kin- 
caid, John  McCreery. 
Illinois  Poultry  Association:     Hon.  A.  G.  Murray,  C.  L.  McCord. 
City  and  County  Officers 
Champaign  County,  Thomas  A.   Burt,   Clerk;  Charleston,   W.   S. 
Cone,  Alderman;  Chicago  J.   Hamilton  Lewis,  Corporation  Counsel; 
Dixon,  J.  F.  Edwards,  Mayor;  Douglas  County,  Chas.  E.  Hawkins, 
Clerk;  Edwardsville,  D.  E.  Burroughs,  Alderman;  Franklin  County, 
William  D.  Seeber,  Clerk;  Joliet,  Richard  J.  Barr,  Mayor,  and  fiye 
Members  of  Council;  Kane  County,  William  F.  Lynch,  Clerk;  Keiths- 
burg — E.  J.  Glancey,  Mayor;  Mendota,  Newton  Innis,  Mayor;  New- 
man, Scott  Burgett,  Member  of  City  Council;  Paxton,  A.  J.  Lawrence, 
Mayor,  H.  C.  Hall,  C.  H.  Swanson,  J.  H.  Nelson,  Pearl  Kemp,  and 
D.  D.  Dennian,  Aldermen;  Pekin,  Daniel  Swapp,  Mayor;  Sangamon 

(367) 


58 

County,  W.  P.  Smith,  representing  the  County  Board;  Springfield, 
Harry  G.  Devereux,  and  Members  of  Council;  Sycamore,  William  J. 
Fulton;   Urbana,  Samuel  C.  Fox,  Mayor;    Watseka,  F.  H.  Burnham, 

Mayor. 

Illinois  Boards  of  Education 

Areola,  H.  U.  Potter;  Bloomington,  Horatio  B.  Bent,  Superin- 
tendent J.  K.  Stableton;  Charleston,  Superintendent  DeWitt  Elwood; 
Chicago,  Superintendent,  E.  G.  Cooley;  Decatur,  Mrs.  Minnie  Hostetler 
Dixon,  J.  F.  Edwards;  Downers  Grove,  O.  M.  Searless;  Earlville,  Ezra 
T.  Goble,  M.D.;  Galva,  P.  S.  Peck,  M.D.,  J.  S.  Dickinson,  M.D.; 
Harrisburg,  Harry  Taylor,  Mr.  Bennell;  Harve}-,  F.  L.  Miller;  Homer, 
C.  D.  Babb,  W.  S.  Hess,  H.  Oneil,  E.  S.  Michner,  F.  O.  Hopkins,  J.  J. 
Freeman;  Hoopeston,  John  B.  Wallbridge;  Joliet,  John  J.  Allison; 
Milford,  C.  M.  Dazey,  O.  O.  Hall;  Naperville,  S.  E.  Dienst,  M.D.; 
Normal,  W.  H.  Gardner,  J.  B.  Adam,  J.  L.  Boling;  Nuhda  and  Crystal 
Lake,  A.  M.  Shelton;  Shelbyville,  J.  C.  Westervelt,  M.D.,  Isaac  S. 
Storm;  Sheldon,  Principal  W.  C.  Chapman;  Sterling,  Rev.  Theodore 
Crowl;  Taylorville,  E.  A.  Vandeveer,  C.  M.  Parker;  Urbana,  All  the 
members  of  the  board;  Vandalia,  George  E.  Dieckmann,  J.  R.  Schtilte, 
J.  R.  McAfee,  Wenona;  Charles  Burgess,  Frank  Hoge,  A.  L.  Turner, 
James  Parrett. 

Clubs 

Chicago  Athletic  Association:  Lawrence  Heyworth,  Fred  Gard- 
ner, Frank  W.  Teeple,  Frank  W.  Wentworth,  Rex  E.  Beach,  Wm.  J. 
Hynes,  Ralph  C.  Otis,  Fred  L.  Watson,  Charles  M.  Faye,  Wm.  H. 
Lake,  Everett  C.  Brown,  P.  M.  Hanney,  Evan  E.  Evans,  Wm.  A. 
Cameron,  Chas.  S.  Dennis,  H.  H.  Loddell,  A.  D.  Bevan,  M.D.,  Wm.  C. 
Thorne. 

Chicago  Culture  Club:     Mrs.  Donald  M.  Gallic. 

Chicago  Woman's  Club:  Keturah  G.  Beers,  Mrs.  Henry  Solomon, 
Mrs.  Geo.  B.  Carpenter,  Miss  Maude  L.  Bradford. 

City  Club :     Towner  K.  Webster. 

Evanston  Club:     Frank  W.  Gerould,  Hon.  Charles  G.  Neely. 

Marquette  Club:     J.  T.  Lenfesty,  P.  S.  Webster. 

Merchants'  Club:     David  R.  Forgan. 

Social  Economics  Club:     Frances  Dickinson,  M.D. 

Union  League  Club:  Reverend  F.  W.  Gunsaulus,  D.D.;  Judge 
C.  C.  Kohlsatt,  H.  H.  C.  Miller. 

Congratulatory  Addresses 

Written  communications  were  presented  from  the  following  insti- 
tutions : 

Oxford  University,  Cambridge  University,  Gonville  and  Cains 
College  (Cambridge),  Trinity  College  (Cambridge),  University  of 
Glasgow,  Brasenose  College  (Oxford),  University  of  Marburg,  Univer- 
sity of  Toronto,  University  of  London,  Queen's  University  (Ontario), 

(368) 


59 

Trinity  College  (Toronto).  Newnham  Hall  (Cambridge),  Emperor 
Nicholas  II  Institute  of  Technology  (Tomsk,  Siberia),  Technische 
Hochschule  (Hanover),  Magyar-O'var  Academy  of  Agriculture  (Hun- 
gary), Bowdoin  College,  St.  Louis  University,  University  of  Missouri, 
Michigan  State  Agricultural  College,  Forest  Park  University.  The 
representatives  of  the  other  institutions  responded  orally  as  their 
names  were  called. 


ADDRESS  OF  WELCOME 

Judge  Oliver  A.  H.\rker 
Dean  of  the  College  of  Law 

To  be  called  upon  to  preside  at  this  meeting  of  delegates  of  the 
leading  universities  of  the  civilized  world  is  a  high  honor.  Appreci- 
ating it  as  it  comes  to  me  unexpectedly  at  this  hour,  I  cannot  refrain 
from  expressing  the  deepest  regret  that  the  distinguished  educator 
and  amiable  gentleman  selected  for  the  presiding  officer  upon  this 
occasion  is  bv  reason  of  his  ill-health  unable  to  be  with  us.  During  an 
unbroken  record  of  thirty-seven  years  of  service  in  this  institution  of 
learning  this  is  the  first  public  occasion  on  which  Dr.  Burrill,  because 
of  ill-health,  has  been  unable  to  be  present  and  perform  his  full  share 
of  duty. 

In  welcoming  the  delegates,  who  have  honored  us  by  accepting 
the  invitation  to  attend  and  assist  in  these  installation  ceremonies,  we 
can  point  to  no  splendid  antiquities,  no  long  history,  as  compared 
with  the  leading  universities  of  England  and  Germany  and  other 
civilized  nations  of  Continental  Europe  and  the  historic  institutions 
of  the  East.  In  comparison  with  them  the  University  of  Illinois  is  a 
mere  infant.  But  as  to  material  equipment,  student  attendance, 
teaching  force,  when  you  come  to  compare  it  with  those  universities, 
it  shows  all  the  strength,  vigor  and  size  of  full  manhood.  A  study  of 
the  statistics  of  the  thirty  leading  universities  and  institutions  of 
learning  in  the  United  States. for  the  last  ten  years  shows  that  the 
University  of  Illinois  in  point  of  increase  in  attendance  has  outstripped  . 
all  of  them.  This  institution,  while  something  like  forty  years  old, 
was  founded  not  under  the  present  name,  and  up  to  twenty  years  ago 
not  one-half  of  the  people  of  this  commonwealth  had  ever  heard  of  it. 
The  half  who  had  heard  of  it  supposed  it  was  an  industrial  school, 
where  incorrigible  boys  were  sent  for  reformation,  and  where  they 
might  learn  some  kind  of  an  honest  vocation.  I  remember  something 
like  eighteen  years  ago,  when  as  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Trustees, 
and  a  member  of  the  committee  having  in  charge  the  procuring  of  an 
appropriation  for  this  building,  I  with  others  went  to  the  Legislature 
and  asked  for  the  modest  sum  of  twenty-five  thousand  dollars.  Al- 
though the  State  was  at  that  time  in  most  excellent  financial  condition, 

(369) 


60 

although  this  senatorial  district  was  represented  by  one  of  the  most 
popular  men  in  the  State  of  Illinois — Senator  Mathews — all  that  we 
were  able  to  procure  from  the  Legislature  was  the  meagre  sum  of  ten 
thousand  dollars.  What  was  needed  then  was  the  hyponotic  influ- 
ence of  President  Draper  over  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representa- 
tives of  Illinois.  In  due  time  it  came,  and  for  the  last  six  or  eight 
years  appropriations  of  one  and  two  hundred  thousand  dollars  have 
been  procured  with  less  effort  than  was  required  in  procuring  the 
appropriation  of  ten  thousand  dollars  for  this  building. 

Referring  again  to  the  student  attendance  for  the  last  ten  years  of 
this  institution,  the  period  intervening  from  the  fall  of  1894  to  the  fall 
of  1904,  there  was  an  increase  of  from  607  to  3,391.  At  the  beginning 
of  that  time  the  University  of  Illinois  ranked  with  the  other  great 
universities,  twenty-third;  at  the  end  of  that  decade  fifth.  The  per 
cent,  of  increase  in  the  leading  universities  has  been  as  follows:  Har- 
vard, twenty-eight;  Yale,  thirty-two;  Michigan,  thirty-two;  Minne- 
sota, sixty-two;  Wisconsin,  one  hundred  and  two;  Columbia,  one 
hundred  and  eight;  the  University  of  Illinois,  four  hundred  and  sixty- 
one.  Such  an  institution.  Delegates  of  Universities,  through  its 
Trustees,  its  President,  its  Faculty  and  its  Alumni,  welcomes  vou. 


RESPONSE  FOR  FOREIGN  UNIVERSITIES 

Henry  T.  Bovey,  LL.D.,  M.  Inst.  C.  E.,  F.R.S. 
Dean  of  the  Faculty  of  Applied  Science,  McGill  University,  Montreal 

It  is  now  some  months  since  I  received  from  the  University  of 
Cambridge  a  request  that  I  should  act  as  her  representative  at  this 
pleasant  and  important  function.  The  duties  involved  seemed  to 
consist  mainly  in  having  the  privilege  of  carrying  to  your  President  an 
address  already  prepared  for  me,  and  couched  in  the  noble  tongue 
which,  ensconced  in  its  university  strongholds,  has  so  long  withstood 
the  shocks  of  time.  I  was  enticed  into  consent  by  the  lightness  of  the 
.duties  and  the  interest  of  the  occasion,  to  say  nothing  of  the  pressure 
of  a  feeling  which  I  might  call  "nobless  oblige,  "  a  feeling  which  I  hope 
will  always  make  it  difficult  for  any  graduate  to  refuse  the  request  of 
his  Alma  Mater.  Time,  however,  brought  changes,  if  not  revenges, 
and  just  before  leaving  it  was  found  that  discussions  involving  im- 
portant educational  issues  would  unfortunately  prevent  our  Principal, 
Dr.  Peterson,  from  being  present  today.  In  this  way  it  came  about 
that  I  was  asked  to  take  a  double  responsibilitv,  and  to  bring  greetings 
from  McGill  University.  McGill  has  not  been  considerate  enough  to 
write  an  address  for  me,  so  I  must  present  her  message  as  best  I  may. 
I  must  hope  that  it  will  be  no  less  warm  than  that  of  Cambridge, 
though  less  sonorous,  clothed  as  it  must  be  in  a  language  which  we 

(370) 


61 

expect — with  the  help  of  the  great  American  nation — to  find  as 
worthy  to  meet  the  needs  of  the  modem  as  Latin  was  to  meet  those 
of  the  ancient  world.  Not  only  shall  we  find  it  fit  for  commerce  and 
the  telegraph,  to  which  its  use  was  somewhat  summarily  limited  the 
other  day  by  a  wellknown  Frenchman,  but  fit  also  for  the  tongue  of 
the  masters  of  thought.  Of  course  its  triumphs  must  always  depend 
on  the  nicety  of  the  adjustment  with  that  particular  kind  of  tongue, 
or  to  misuse  the  words  of  a  north  western  report  on  com  lands,  "the 
yield  of  com  which  may  be  expected  from  these  lands  will  depend  on 
manv  things  and  first  on  the  presence  of  the  cultivator,  a  personage 
often  conspicuously  absent. 

In  a  tongue  of  the  Old  World,  then,  and  in  a  tongue  of  the  New, 
I  bring  congratulations  to  you  and  to  your  President,  the  two  tongues 
being  in  many  ways  very  fitting  types  of  the  two  institutions  which  I 
represent.  In  England  one  day  I  listened  to  a  child  when  he  was 
taken  to  see  many  hoary  buildings  covered  with  ivy  and  lichen,  and 
was  amused  to  notice  how  soon  he  reflected  the  prevailing  spirit  of 
those  around  him  and  always  asked,  "How  old  is  it?"  On  this  side 
there  are  not  wanting  signs  that  we  shall  come  to  this — only  recently 
I  read  of  a  dance  managed  according  to  a  tradition  of  three  centuries. 
But  on  the  whole  I  think  our  child  phonograph,  had  he  been  watched 
on  this  continent,  would  have  been  heard  saying,  "How  big  is  it?" 
Well,  Cambridge  is  decidedly  old,  going  right  back  to  mediaeval  times, 
where  its  beginnings  are  a  little  obscured  by  the  fogs  of  dawn,  but  it 
would  be  a  great  mistake  to  suppose  that  age  implies  an  inability  to 
see  anything  but  its  past.  Cambridge  certainly  lives  in  the  past, 
pretty  much,  in  the  matter  of  endowment,  for  we  do  not  find  the 
state  giving  her  two  million  dollars  after  the  enlightened  example  of 
Illinois.  In  fact  it  seems  to  have  been  supposed  that  she  had  found 
the  elixir  of  life  and  that  she  required  nothing  more  in  the  way  of 
financial  support.  In  spite  of  this,  which  we  cannot  but  consider  a 
distinct  disadvantage,  Cambridge  lives  in  the  present  in  a  very  real 
sense,  carries  on  the  search  for  new  truths  and,  at  the  same  time, 
seems  to  be  still  capable  of  continuing  her  older  work,  that  of  discover- 
ing men — men  who  have  written  masterpieces  of  literature,  who  have 
revolutionized  science  and  art  and  who,  as  statesmen,  have  changed 
the  destinies  of  nations. 

McGill,  on  the  other  hand,  has  no  claims  to  antiquity.  We  cele- 
brated our  seventy-fifth  birthday  only  two  years  ago,  but  if  we  have 
lived  onlv  through  one  lifetime  of  the  world,  it  is  emphatically  a  life- 
time which  has  been  "crowded  with  culture" — culture  of  everything 
from  fields  to  the  minds  of  men. 

A  French  writer,  however,  has  said  that  we  are  the  true  ancients, 
and  so  we  are,  if  long  experience  gives  proof  of  ancientry.  For  are 
we  not  heirs  of  all  the  ages?    Which  should  perhaps  give  us  a  hint  that 

(371) 


62 

educational  structures  should  not  be  revolutions  starting  from  demo- 
lition, but  would  do  better  to  be  evolutions,  building  upon  and  em- 
bodying the  work  of  the  past. 

When  I  reached  Champaign  I  found  that  I  was  requested  to  make 
a  further  addition  to  my  duties  and  to  reply  for  foriegn  universities. 
I  don't  know  whether  that  means  all  foreign  universities  or  only  those 
which  sent  special  greetings.  Even  if  the  latter  it  seems  to  me  that  I 
should  require  the  help  of  the  Hercules  we  saw  in  the  play  last  night 
to  enable  me  to  support  the  load  of  such  a  responsibility.  I  can  onlv 
say  that  if  these  institutions  of  learning  had  sent  representatives,  they 
would  doubtless  have  been  able  to  say  the  other  things  which  I  have 
been  obliged  to  leave  to  your  kindly  imagination. 

On  behalf  of  the  University  of  Cambridge,  and  of  Queen's  College, 
Cambridge,  England,  and  on  behalf  of  McGill  University,  Montreal, 
Canada,  I  beg  to  tender  the  most  cordial  greetings  and  to  express  the 
hope  that  continued  success  may  mark  the  new  regime  upon  which 
this  great  University  enters  under  the  distinguished  presidency  of 
Dr.  James. 


RESPONSE  FOR  STATE  UNIVERSITIES 

James  B.  Angell,  LL.D 
President  of  the  University  of  Michigan,  Ann  Arbor 

We  have  been  accustomed  to  congratulate  each  of  the  seven  cities 
which  showed  some  claims  to  be  the  birthplace  of  Homer,  for  there 
was  honor  enought  to  divide  amongst  them  all.  Some  of  us  who 
have  been  in  collegiate  service  for  several  years  have  been  kept 
busy  in  congratulating  President  James  on  his  successive  calls  to 
posts  of  higher  academic  honor  and  the  various  institutions  he  has 
served  with  so  much  distinction  on  their  good  fortune  in  securing  him. 
I  have  sometimes  queried  whether  his  itinerancy  was  due  to  his 
Methodist  training,  which  accustomed  him  to  the  rule  of  limited 
pastorates.  But  now  that  his  church  has  changed  its  rule  and  granted 
an  extension  of  successful  service,  I  trust  this  institution  may  hope  to 
see  him  long  at  its  helm,  which  his  gifts  and  experience  so  fit  him  to 
hold. 

On  this  occasion  it  seems  fitting  to  recall  the  fact  that  the  most 
important  chapter  in  the  history  of  higher  education  in  our  country 
during  the  last  seventy-five  years  has  been  that  which  describes  the 
establishment  and  development  of  the  state  universities.  In  saying 
this  I  do  not  forget  or  underrate  the  extraordinary  grow^th  and  the 
vastly  increased  resources  of  the  older  and  stronger  endowed  univer- 
sities nor  the  recent  foundation  of  great  universities  through  the 
generosity  of  men  of  immense  wealth.  But  when  we  remember  that 
every  state  from  Michigan  and  Ohio  to  the  Pacific  coast  and  from  the 

(372) 


63 

Dakotas  southward  to  Texas  has  been  enabled  by  the  gift  of  the 
general  government  to  lay  the  solid  foundations  of  a  university,  and 
in  most  cases  by  the  votes  of  the  taxpayers  to  build  it  up  into  strength, 
when  we  see  that  several  of  these  comparatively  young  institutions 
are  by  the  amount  of  their  resources,  by  their  completeness  of  outfit, 
and  by  their  number  of  students  rivalling  in  the  most  friendly  spirit 
the  ancient  and  renowned  institutions  of  the  East,  are  we  not  justified 
in  affirming  that  this  is  the  most  striking  phenomenon  in  our  recent 
educational  history? 

Furthermore,  when  we  observe  that  these  state  universities  are 
furnishing  education  at  a  rate  merely  nominal  in  comparison  with  the 
fees  of  the  endowed  universities,  that  they  are  for  the  most  part  in 
the  states  in  which  the  population  is  increasing  most  rapidly,  and  in 
which,  therefore,  the  dominant  political  power  is  likely  to  be  lodged, 
is  it  not  clear  that  they  are  to  have  an  enormous  growth  in  the  future, 
and  that  their  influence  in  shaping  the  fortune  of  our  nation  is  likely 
to  be  qtiite  beyond  our  power  of  computation?  If  this  Central  West 
has  any  controlling  passion,  it  is  the  passion  for  education.  For  the 
education  of  their  children  men  cheerfully  pay  their  largest  taxes.  To 
acquire  education,  the  young  men  and  young  women  cheerfully  prac- 
tice the  sternest  self-denails  to  gratify  this  passion  for  education. 
These  state  universities  stand  with  open  doors,  inviting  these  ardent 
disciples  to  come  and  receive  their  training  almost  without  money 
and  without  price.  Where  in  this  broad  land  so  abounding  in  oppor- 
tunities to  ingenuous  youth  is  there  a  more  charming  spectacle  than 
these  temples  of  learning  which  in  every  state  invite  them  to  their 
halls? 

This  imperial  State  started  later  than  some  of  her  sisters  in  planting 
her  State  University.  But  for  her  tardiness  in  beginning  she  has 
amply  compensated  by  the  vigorous  pace  at  which  she  has  proceeded. 
Of  late  years  no  state  has  made  so  generous  appropriations  for  the 
support  of  its  university.  In  no  other  university  has  recently  the 
increase  in  the  number  of  students  been  more  rapid.  With  the  im- 
mense resources  of  this,  the  wealthiest  state  in  the  West,  at  its  com- 
mand, with  the  obvious  desire  of  the  students  of  this  populous  com- 
monwealth to  flock  to  its  halls,  with  a  Faculty  trained  for  the  diversity 
of  education  which  it  offers,  under  the  leadership  of  a  President  in  the 
full  vigor  of  middle  life,  how  can  we  on  this  auspicious  day  fail  to 
cherish  the  most  confident  expectations  of  its  indefinite  growth  and 
prosperity,  and  how  can  this  great  commonwealth  fail  to  register  its 
vow  that  all  reasonable  needs  of  her  University  shall  be  met  with  a 
liberal  hand? 

That  this  may  be  your  happy  future  is  the  wish  and  the  belief  of 
your  sister  state  university  for  whom  by  your  favor  I  have  the  honor 
to  speak. 

(373) 


64 

RESPONSE  FOR  THE  UNIVERSITIES  OF  THE  EAST 

Ira  Remsen,  M.D.,  Ph.D.,  LL.D. 

President  of  Johns  Hopkins  University,  Baltimore 

The  Johns  Hopkins  University  sends  cordial  greetings  and  hearty 
congratulations  to  the  University  of  Illinois,  and  best  wishes  for  the 
success  of  the  new  President  who  today  is  to  be  inaugurated.  Al- 
though I  am  called  upon  to  respond  for  the  universities  of  the  East,  I  am 
mindful  of  the  fact  that  I  am  not  the  official  representative  of  these 
universities.  They  have  not  selected  me  as  their  spokesman.  But  I 
am  sure  that  they  would  join  in  congratulatory  messages,  and  I  there- 
fore venture  to  express  to  you  the  felicitations  of  the  universities  of 
the  East. 

The  work  you  are  about  to  undertake.  President  James,  is  not 
new  to  you.  You  have  had  experience  enough  in  the  presidential 
chair  to  enable  you  to  form  a  judgment  as  to  what  is  before  you,  and 
you  have  shown  us  that  you  have  the  qualities  of  mind  that  will 
enable  you  to  work  efficiently  in  the  lines  laid  down  for  you. 

We  have  difficult  problems  to  solve  in  education.  This  is  true  of 
all  grades  and  kinds  of  education,  but  the  circumstances  of  this  day 
lead  our  thoughts  more  especially  to  the  problems  of  university  edu- 
cation. With  these  problems  we  in  this  country  have  been  struggling 
for  some  years  past,  are  at  present  struggling,  and  are  likely  to  con- 
tinue struggling  for  years  to  come.  To  one  who  has  spent  most  of  his 
life  in  investigation  in  the  field  of  experimental  science,  the  problems 
of  education  seem  enormously  difficult  and  unsatisfactory  to  deal 
with.  We  want  to  know  what  is  best  for  those  who  come  to  us  for 
training.  If  this  could  be  determined  with  any  degree  of  certainty, 
we  should  all  act  accordingly.  Our  systems  would  be  based  upon  a 
knowledge  of  the  facts.  But  our  experiments  must,  and  do,  leave  us 
in  doubt  at  many  points,  and  so  we  go  stumbling  on,  doing  the  best 
we  can,  but  knowing  that  we  could  do  better  if  only  we  had  the  means 
of  judging  the  results  of  our  work. 

Some  years  ago  the  word  college  had  a  fairly  distinct  meaning  in 
this  country.  The  work  done  in  the  college  was  for  the  most  part 
disciplinary  and  preparatory.  The  graduate  was  prepared  to  enter 
upon  the  study  of  theology,  or  to  take  up  the  work  of  a  teacher  or  of 
a  business  man.  The  number  of  subjects  studied  was  small  as  com- 
pared with  the  number  now  going  to  make  up  the  college  curriculum. 
On  the  whole  this  proved  satisfactory.  Then  came  science  with  its 
manifold  applications,  and  one  by  one  the  different  branches  of 
science  were  added.  At  first  the  effort  was  made  simply  to  give  the 
student  an  idea  of  the  great  fundamental  principles  of  the  sciences  by 
telling  about  them  in  lectures  or  by  the  study  of  text -books.  As  a 
teacher  of  science  I  confess  to  having  tried  this  experiment  as  many 

(374) 


65 

others  have,  and  I  need  not  here  report  that  the  experiment  showed 
that  this  method  is  of  httle  value  to  the  student.  My  own  conviction 
is  that  the  method  is  of  no  value  whatever,  and  I  believe  that  is  one  of 
the  problems  of  education  that  calls  for  no  further  experimenting.  It 
is  worth  something  to  have  one  problem  out  of  the  way.  When  it 
became  clear  that  nothing  was  to  be  gained  by  attempts  to  teach  the 
great  fundamental  principles  of  the  sciences  by  lectures  alone  or  by 
text-books,  and  the  value  of  the  laboratory  as  a  basis  for  the  teaching 
of  the  sciences  came  to  be  more  and  more  clearly  recognized,  then  the 
cry  for  laboratories  went  up  over  the  land  and  nothing  is  more  char- 
acteristic of  the  changes  in  our  colleges  in  the  last  twenty  years  than 
the  springing  up  of  laboratories  in  every  nook  and  corner  of  the 
country.  I  doubt  if  there  were  a  dozen  laboratories  all  told  in  the 
entire  country  at  the  time  when  I  began  my  work  as  a  teacher,  and 
these  were  all  devoted  to  chemistry.  I  do  not  know  how  many  there 
are  now,  but  I  am  sure  that  every  college  has  a  number  of  them  devoted 
to  as  many  different  subjects,  and  there  is  scarcely  a  school,  no  matter 
what  its  grade  may  be,  that  cannot  boast  of  at  least  one.  While  those 
who  have  helped  to  bring  about  this  state  of  affairs  do  not,  I  am  sure, 
regret  it;  while  they  feel  that  much  has  been  gained  by  the  adoption 
of  the  scientific  laboratory  method,  the  question  is  often  raised 
whether  something  has  not  been  lost  so  far  as  general  education  is 
concerned.  That  is  a  hard  question  to  answer.  And  here  we  see 
exemplified  the  general  difficulty  involved  in  pedagogical  investiga- 
tion. How  shall  we  draw  our  conclusions  with  confidence?  Most  of 
what  I  have  read  on  the  subject  does  not  appear  to  me  convincing. 
The  writers  seem  to  be  working  the  problems  out  in  their  heads,  draw- 
ing upon  that  never-failing  source  of  information  the  "inner  conscious- 
ness" for  their  facts  and  arguments.  It  is  probably  too  early  to  draw 
conclusions.  It  takes  time  to  get  together  a  sufficient  basis  of  facts. 
But  the  facts  are  being  accumulated  and  in  time  the  conclusions  will 
force  themselves  upon  us  whether  we  will  or  not.  As  a  teacher  of 
science  I  may  say  that  I  believe  that  the  properly  conducted  laboratory 
is  of  great  value  as  a  means  of  general  training  and  that  it  is  highly 
desirable  that  every  college  student  should  have  at  least  a  glimpse  of 
the  laboratory.  Whether  a  satisfactory  general  education  can  be 
given  by  the  following  of  courses  in  science  to  the  exclusion  of  those 
subjects  which  were  formerly  held  to  have  a  monopoly  of  culture  is 
another  question.  I  should  not  care  to  push  the  experiment  too  far. 
Here,  then,  is  an  important  problem  that  is  still  calling  for  solution. 
Education  should  help  to  develop  men  and  women  of  efficiency,  of 
culture,  of  character.  Is  there  any  particular  combination  of  sub- 
jects the  study  of  which  is  likely  to  give  the  desired  result?  And 
what  weight  is  to  be  assigned  to  different  subjects  in  the  curriculum  ? 
We  have  got  far  enough  along,  I  think,  to  justify  us  in  saying  that, 

(375) 


66 

so  far  as  their  educational  value  is  concerned,  there  are  many  subjects 
that  stand  on  a  par,  that  the  choice  is  not  limited  to  a  narrow  range. 
But  deeper  than  this  is  the  most  important  fact  of  the  man  behind  the 
subject.  Between  the  two  possible  combinations,  a  good  subject  and-a 
bad  man,  and  a  bad  subject  and  a  good  man,  it  would  not  be  difficult  to 
choose.  By  bad  man  I  do  not  mean  one  who  is  bad  in  the  ordinary 
sense,  but  one  who  is  bad  in  a  pedagogical  sense. 

I  recently  listened  to  a  rather  pathetic  address.  The  speaker  with 
tears  in  his  voice  deplored  the  modern  tendencies  in  college  education, 
holding  that  while  in  the  older  colleges  the  object  in  view  was  the 
development  of  character,  in  the  modem  colleges  the  object  is  to 
develop  the  power  of  work.  The  inference  was  not  quite  clear  to  me, 
but  as  well  as  I  could  judge  it  was  this,  that  there  is  a  kind  of  educa- 
cation  that  develops  character  and  there  is  another  kind  that  does  not. 
Neither  was  clearly  defined.  Now,  I  should  like,  all  of  us  would  like 
above  all  things,  to  know  just  what  that  kind  of  education  is  that 
develops  character.  That  is  the  kind  we  want  in  our  schools  and 
colleges,  for  it  must  be  acknowledged  that  judged  from  the  point  of 
view  of  character  the  products  of  schools  and  colleges  often  leave 
much  to  be  desired.  It  is  questionable  whether  the  nature  of  the 
subject  studied  has  much  to  do  with  these  results.  Physics  properly 
taught  and  mathematics  properly  taught  probably  have  as  good  a 
moral  influence  upon  the  student  as  Latin  or  history  or  philosophy  or 
any  other  subject  commonly  classed  under  the  head  of  the  humanities. 
The  essential  thing  is  the  proper  teaching. 

Probably  these  is  some  reason  for  the  accusation  that,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  influence  of  our  universities,  our  colleges  have  shown  a 
tendency  to  become  schools  for  specialists.  Our  college  teachers  to  a 
large  and  increasing  extent  have  received  their  training  at  some  univer- 
sity. They  have  spent  years  in  special  and  advanced  studies,  becoming 
more  special  and  more  advanced  as  time  progressed,  until  their  attention 
has  been  fixed  for  a  year  or  more  upon  some  comparatively  small  point 
which  has  been  the  subject  of  a  research.  Then  they  have  been  labeled 
doctors  of  philosophy  and  sent  out  into  the  world  to  take  up  the  work  of 
teaching.  During  the  last  quarter  of  a  century  the  graduate  courses  and 
their  products,  the  doctors  of  philosophy,  have  revolutionized  teaching 
in  our  colleges.  The  result  has  been  the  introduction  of  university 
methods  into  the  colleges.  While,  on  the  whole,  this  change  has 
probably  been  beneficial,  it  has  no  doubt  had  its  disadvantages. 
Courses  have  been  worked  out  for  some  of  the  colleges  that  have  been 
as  nearly  as  possible  like  those  which  the  teacher  has  followed  in  the 
university,  and  the  college  students  are  set  to  work  on  these  somewhat 
advanced  courses  before  they  are  prepared  for  them.  I  fear  there  is 
a  good  deal  of  this  premature  tackling  of  advanced  courses  throughout 
the  country.     A  few  years  ago  a  teacher  of  my  own  subject  in  a  rather 

(376) 


67 

obscure  college  said  to  me:  "I  have  now  arranged  my  work  so  that 
those  students  who  select  chemistry  can  do  everything  that  is  done  in 
the  universitv  except  the  dissertation.  We  shall  have  to  send  them 
away  for  that."  The  adjustment  of  our  college  courses  to  our  uni- 
versitv courses  is  one  of  the  most  important  problems  before  us.  The 
present  condition  is  most  unsatisfactory.  It  is  almost  intolerable. 
What  ought  we  to  do?  We  have  a  number  of  answers,  but  no  one 
answer  appears  to  be  so  much  better  than  the  others  that  it  is  generally 
accepted  as  furnishing  the  desired  solution  of  the  problem. 

The  question  as  to  the  proper  adjustment  of  the  college  course  to 
the  university  course  touches  not  only  the  so-called  graduate  courses 
in  the  non-professional  school,  but  also  the  courses  in  the  professional 
schools,  and  here  all  along  the  line  rapid  changes  are  taking  place. 
Where  it  is  to  end  no  one  can  say.  It  is  clear  that  we  are  at  present 
in  a  state  of  imstable  equilibrium. 

Finallv,  a  word  in  regard  to  the  university  movement  in  general. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  that  there  should  be  a  few  places  at  least  where 
those  of  scholarly  tendencies  may  go  for  the  purpose  of  developing 
their  powers  to  the  fullest  extent.  As  time  advances  the  demand  for 
such  opportunities  will  increase,  but  it  is  a  fair  question  whether  too 
much  emphasis  has  not  been  laid  upon  graduate  work  in  too  many 
places.  I  am  well  aware  that  there  is  no  way  of  regulating  the  present 
practice  by  law.  Wasteful  experiments  will  have  to  continue  until 
bitter  experience  teaches  us  the  right.  The  spread  of  graduate  work 
meanwhiie  continues  until  it  threatens  to  do  away  with  the  preparatory 
and  disciplinary  college  work  to  which  we  have  so  long  been  accus- 
tomed. We  have  been  inoculated  with  a  particularly  vigorous  uni- 
versity virus  and  the  disease  has  become  epidemic  among  our  colleges. 
We  Americans  catch  new  ideas  with  great  ease,  and  we  are  apt  to  run 
them  into  the  ground.  But  we  also  have  a  saving  stock  of  common 
sense  that  gradually  asserts  itself  and  saves  us  from  disaster.  How- 
ever unsatisfactory  the  outlook  now  may  be,  we  may  be  sure  that  by 
the  continued  efforts  of  those  engaged  in  educational  work  the  many 
problems  will  be  solved,  and  we  welcome  you.  President  James,  to  the 
circle  of  workers  with  a  feeling  of  confidence  that  you  will  give  valu- 
able aid.  You  have  a  splendid  opportunity.  You  have  the  guidance 
of  a  flourishing  university  in  a  flourishing  state.  The  Eastern  uni- 
versities hope  and  believe  that  you  will  make  the  best  use  of  the 
opportunity. 


(377) 


68 

RESPONSE  FOR  WESTERN  UNIVERSITIES 

Frank  Strong,  Ph.D. 
Chancellor  of  the  University  of  Kansas,  Lawrence 

I  highly  appreciate  the  honor  that  is  mine  in  being  chosen  to 
respond  in  behalf  of  western  universities.  For  my  own  institution, 
therefore,  and  for  all  of  the  universities  which  I  represent,  I  wish  to 
extend  to  the  University  of  Illinois  our  sincere  congratulations  upon 
the  auspicious  event  which  we  are  here  to  celebrate.  We  hope  for 
you  still  greater  success  and  still  more  honorable  achievements  under 
the  guidance  of  the  distinguished  man  who  is  now  your  President. 

In  responding  for  western  universities  I  am  somewhat  perplexed 
because  President  Angell,  who  of  all  men  is  most  worthy  to  undertake 
the  task  imposed  upon  him,  has  spoken  on  behalf  of  the  state  univer- 
sities, which  without  exception  are  the  best  equipped  and  strongest 
institutions  of  learning  in  the  West.  I  am  perplexed  again  because  of 
the  uncertain  meaning  of  the  word  "western."  To  John  Winthrop, 
Thomas  Hooker,  in  leading  his  colonists  into  the  Connecticut  Valley, 
was  plunging  indeed  into  the  far  west.  When  the  patriots  of  Massa- 
chusetts and  Connecticut  in  return  for  services  in  the  Revolution  took 
up  military  lands  in  central  New  York,  they,  too,  were  hailed  as 
Westerners.  So,  indeed,  were  those  who  followed  the  Cumberland 
road  or  skirted  Lake  Erie  to  the  Ohio  country  and  the  great  State 
whose  University  we  honor  today;  and  so,  again,  were  the  hardy 
settlers  of  the  states  whose  western  territory  is  the  beginning  of  the 
slope  of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  And  finally  some  years  residence  upon 
the  Pacific  coast  has  led  me  to  understand  the  amazement  with  which 
the  people  of  Oregon,  Washington,  and  California  regard  the  ill- 
advised  ones  who  speak  of  Illinois,  Kansas  or  Colorado  as  "West." 
Therefore,  that  there  may  be  some  definiteness  in  my  own  mind,  I 
shall  for  this  occasion  speak  in  general  for  the  universities  located 
west  of  the  Mississippi  River. 

The  University  of  Illinois,  Mr.  President,  is  built  on  the  original 
territory  of  the  United  States.  You  are  therefore  linked  with  the 
earliest  years  of  our  country's  history.  We  belong  to  the  new  territory 
about  which  our  fathers  dreamed,  but  which  to  them  was  an  impossible 
country.  Some  of  us  belong  to  the  immense  tract  of  coimtry  pur- 
chased through  the  farsightedness  of  the  third  president  of  the  United 
States — a  territory  which  is  but  beginning  to  show  what  the  future  has 
in  store  for  it.  Some  of  us  belong  to  the  Oregon  territory,  whose 
occupation  and  conquest  are  among  the  most  thrilling  episodes  in  the 
history  of  the  world.  Still  others  of  us  belong  to  that  great  territory 
which  came  to  the  United  States  through  the  victories  of  Buena  Vista, 
Cerro  Gordo  and  Chapultepec. 

The  University  of  Illinois  belongs  to  a  state  which  for  nearly  a 

(378) 


69 

hundred  years  has  been  an  equal  member  of  this  union  of  states. 
You  are  therefore  more  firmly  linked  with  the  past  than  we  are.  The 
state  from  which  I  come  entered  the  Union  amidst  the  throes  of  the 
Civil  War.  The  state  upon  her  western  border  was  a  Centennial 
state,  and  the  states  north  and  west  of  her,  with  two  exceptions,  were 
admitted  during  the  period  from  1867  to  1896.  I  even  represent  the 
institutions  in  the  territories  of  the  United  States  which  are  now 
knocking  for  admission  at  the  door  of  the  Union. 

We  are  therefore  new  and  young.  We  are,  like  you,  a  part  of  the 
great  western  movement  that  has  been  going  on  throughout  so  many 
centuries.  The  Persian  found  his  master  in  the  Greek;  the  Greek  in 
the  western  Roman,  and  the  Roman  in  the  barbarians  of  the  north 
and  west.  Out  of  that  political  and  social  chaos  came  the  little  island 
kingdom  still  farther  west  and  for  so  many  years  the  greatest  nation 
in  the  world.  Her  eldest  daughter,  who  has  succeeded  to  the  primacy, 
has  carried  the  western  movement  across  our  own  continent  and  to 
the  islands  of  the  sea  until  now  the  West  is  knocking  at  the  door  of  the 
East  and  we,  as  members  of  the  Teutonic  race,  are  treading  near  the 
border  of  the  country  from  which  our  family  of  races  is  said  to  have 
spnmg.  And,  Mr.  President,  from  the  days  of  King  Darius  until  now, 
the  West  has  ruled  the  world. 

The  states  I  represent,  Mr.  President,  are  not  among  the  most 
populous  of  our  country.  They  are,  however,  rapid  in  their  develop- 
ment, great  in  their  natural  resources,  wonderful  in  their  scenery  and 
second  to  none  in  the  character  of  the  people  living  upon  their  soil. 
Although  we  are  not  among  the  most  populous,  there  are  nearly 
seventeen  thousand  undergraduate  and  graduate  students  in  our 
public  universities  and  technical  schools,  and  nearly  thirteen  thousand 
in  our  private  institutions  of  the  same  class, — nearly  thirty  thousand 
of  as  strong  and  noble  and  capable  young  people  as  our  country 
affords.  The  amount  of  state  aid  to  higher  education  in  these  states 
is  manv  millions  of  dollars  a  year,  and  the  amount  is  rapidly  increas- 
ing. The  amount  of  public  funds  going  toward  the  support  of  pubhc 
schools  is  many  millions  more,  and  it  has  been  left  for  the  West  to 
provide  free  public  education  for  its  children  from  the  kindergarten 
to  the  university. 

These  institutions  are  nearly  ah  coeducational,  for  the  educational 
movement  started  by  the  ordinance  of  1787  has  developed  a  new  type 
of  institutions  in  which  the  girl  as  well  as  the  boy  is  given  the  best 
opportunities  that  money  can  buy.  The  result  has  been  a  new  kind 
of  university  life;  a  new  university  spirit;  a  better  understanding  of 
the  sexes;  a  higher  type  of  moral  and  intellectual  life. 

In  these  western  states  the  denominational  school  of  the  old  time 
has  passed  away.  The  schools  estabhshed  and  controlled  by  Christian 
denominations  are  no  longer  sectarian  in  their  influence,  nor  do  they 

(379) 


70 

seek  to  impress  upon  their  students  their  specific  forms  of  sectarian 
belief.  They  are  no  longer,  with  few  exceptions,  denominational 
schools,  but  Christian  schools  in  the  broadest  sense,  whose  standard  is 
that  of  the  highest  Christian  culture.  In  like  manner  the  public 
universities  of  the  western  states  have  departed  from  their  old  atti- 
tude of  antagonism  to  religious  life  and  development,  recognizing  as 
they  do,  that  our  common  Christianity  is  the  basis  of  our  civilization, 
of  our  family  life  and  of  our  university  discipline.  They,  too,  have 
come  to  regard  the  highest  Christian  culture  as  the  basis  of  university 
life  and  control,  and  among  no  class  of  institutions  is  the  university 
life  sounder  and  purer  and  more  wholesome  and  more  spiritual  than 
among  the  state  institutions  of  the  West. 

There  is  also  noticeable  among  us  the  beginnings  of  a  unifying 
movement  which  shall  lead  private  institutions  under  the  guidance 
and  leadership  of  the  state  universities  to  cooperate  in  every  reason- 
able way  for  the  educational  development  of  the  state  in  which  they 
may  be  located.  This  movement,  Mr.  President,  is  destined  to  be  of 
great  value  to  both  state  and  private  institutions,  and  with  the  exer- 
cise of  wisdom  and  generosity  will  lead  to  a  higher  type  of  educational 
life. 

I  have  said,  Mr.  President,  that  we  are  new  and  young,  and  so  we 
are.  We  have  the  strength  and  the  weakness,  the  advantages  and  the 
defects  that  arise  from  that  fact.  We  have  alertness,  power,  self- 
confidence  and  mental  vigor.  On  the  other  hand,  we  have  the  lack  of 
polish  and  stability  that  come  with  age.  We  are  not  bound  to  the  old 
because  it  is  old,  and  yet,  on  the  other  hand,  we  are  sometimes  in 
danger  of  embracing  that  which  is  new  simply  because  it  is  new. 
Because  we  are  young  we  lack  traditions,  and  on  the  whole  we  are 
thankful  for  it.  The  lack  of  tradition  allows  us  that  freedom  which  is 
the  very  breath  of  life  of  true  education.  It  is  because  of  this  freedom, 
Mr.  President,  that  the  western  universities  of  which  you  are  a  part 
have  made  such  strides  in  the  last  fifteen  years.  It  is  because  of  this 
freedom  that  we  have  alertness,  and  courage,  and  mental  vigor.  It  is 
because  of  this  freedom  that  we  are  developing  men  of  ability,  un- 
selfishness and  power.  The  very  breadth  of  our  plains  and  greatness 
of  our  mountains  react  upon  the  lives  of  our  young  people.  The 
sunshine  and  vital  strength  of  the  air  they  breathe  make  independence 
necessary  and  undue  restraint  impossible.  We  are  free,  Mr.  President, 
because  we  cannot  help  ourselves;  it  is  in  our  blood  and  comes  down 
to  us  from  many  generations  of  pioneers  and  patriots. 

And  lastly,  Mr.  President,  we  are  loyal  to  our  country.  Nowhere 
does  the  fire  of  patriotism  burn  more  brightly,  and  it  is  the  high  pa- 
triotism that  demands  purity  in  our  national  life  and  the  overthrow 
of  the  sordid  commercialism  that  is  making  our  people  money-mad. 
We  are  democratic  in  our  instincts.     Nowhere  is  there  less  account 

(380) 


71 

taken  of  anything  bvit  the  actual  worth  of  the  individual;  nowhere  is 
there  more  of  the  true  democracy  which  is  the  state  of  mind  and  heart 
that  leads  to  a  real  belief  in  the  brotherhood  of  men.  We  are  altruistic 
in  our  ideals.  The  students  in  our  vmiversities  can  be  relied  upon  for 
the  highest  and  noblest  standards  of  political  and  social  life  without 
counting  the  cost  in  dollars.  They  will  be  found  not  only  supporting 
but  demanding  obedience  to  law,  faithfulness  to  public  trusts,  integ- 
rity in  official  position,  and  a  square  deal  for  all  men.  We  are  sound 
in  our  moral  and  religious  life  and  we  can  be  counted  on  for  the  funda- 
mentals of  the  religious  faith  that  has  come  down  to  us  from  our 
fathers.  In  other  words,  Mr.  President,  we  share  the  high  ideals  and 
purposes  of  this  great  University,  and  your  sister  universities  in  the 
vast  territory  west  of  the  Mississippi  once  more  bid  you  God-speed. 


RESPONSE  FOR  SOUTHERN  UNIVERSITIES 
Edwin  B.  Craighead,  LL.D. 

President  of  Tulane  University,  New  Orleans 
Thrice  happy  am  I  to  be  with  you  today,  for  New  Orleans  and  the 
South  are  at  the  end  of  a  hundred  years  war — they  shall  never  have 
another  yellow  fever  epidemic.  They  have  demonstrated  to  the  world 
a  scientific  truth,  which,  if  known  a  hundred  years  ago,  would  have 
made  New  Orleans  a  real  world  metropolis,  and  saved  to  the  South, 
not  only  thousands  of  valuable  lives,  but  more  money  than  has  ever 
been  spent  upon  all  the  scientific  institutions  and  universities  of  the 
Republic.  To  the  university -trained  man  we  are  indebted  for  this 
triumph  over  a  disease  that  once  was  fitly  called  the  awful  Southern 
scourge.  To  the  university-trained  man,  and  to  him  alone,  we  must 
look  for  leadership  in  a  fight  to  a  finish  against  tuberculosis  and 
cholera  and  all  other  diseases  that  have  desolated  the  world.  It  is  to 
the  university  that  humanity  must  look  for  light  and  guidance  in  its 
onward  march  to  better  things.  For  this  reason,  not  Tulane  alone, 
not  the  universities  of  the  South  alone,  but  the  universities  of  the 
North  and  of  the  East  and  of  the  West  and  of  the  world,  yea,  all  civil- 
ized men,  of  whatever  tongue  or  creed,  rejoice  today  with  the  friends 
and  alumni  of  the  University  of  Illinois  and  wish  for  its  new  President 
long  life  and  abundant  success  in  the  great  work  which  he  has  so 
nobly  begun.  All  real  universities  are  engaged  in  the  same  sacred 
cause,  to  furnish  a  larger  and  larger  life  to  larger  and  larger  numbers 
of  human  beings.  For  Illinois  to  succeed  is  not  for  Louisana  to  fail, 
for  Illinois'  success  is  Louisiana's  and  the  South's  success  and  human- 
ity's success.  For  the  work  of  a  great  university  is  not  confined  to 
the  city  in  which  it  is  planted  nor  to  the  state  which  claims  it  as  her 
own.  Its  work  is  as  wide  as  the  world,  as  enduring  as  civilization, 
"Lofty  as  the  love  of  God, 
Ample  as  the  needs  of  man;" 
(381j 


72 

for  it  deals  not  alone  with  the  local  and  temporal,  but  with  the  uni- 
versal and  eternal. 

It  is  fit,  therefore,  that  on  this  great  occasion  all  universities,  all 
lovers  of  light  and  learning,  should  rejoice  to  send  hither  their  repre- 
sentatives; but  there  is  a  special  reason  why  I,  as  a  representative  of 
the  South,  should  find  here  congenial  company,  for  in  the  South  was 
established  the  first  university  sustained  and  controlled  by  the  state. 
In  the  South  the  state  university  first  found  a  congenial  home,  a  not 
unfriendly  atmosphere.  Of  the  thirteen  original  colonies  only  five 
have  universities  and  of  these  all  save  one  are  in  the  South.  In  the 
South  was  established  the  first  real  American  university  with  elective 
courses  and  without  a  fixed,  uniform,  medieval  curriculum — the 
University  of  Virginia,  in  which  should  be  taught,  said  Jefferson, 
"every  branch  of  knowledge,  whether  calculated  to  enrich,  stimulate 
and  adorn  the  understanding,  or  to  be  useful  in  the  arts  and  sciences 
and  practical  business  of  life."  Slowly,  sometimes  stubbornly, 
reluctantly,  have  our  great  Northern  universities  been  creeping  up 
for  a  hundred  years  to  the  high  ideal  of  the  university  set  by  Thomas 
Jefferson.  The  state  university  is,  after  all,  the  most  splendid  and 
enduring  monument  of  Jeffersonian  democracy.  The  great  party 
which  he  founded  may  be  doomed  to  hopeless  defeat  and  disruption — 
it  has  little  chance  to  suffer  from  corruption — or  robbed  of  its  staunch- 
est  champions,  for  Mr.  Roosevelt  will  in  a  few  days  invade  the  South, 
and  there  are  among  us  thousands  who  believe  in  Roosevelt  and  con- 
sider him  the  greatest  democrat  since  Jefferson.  Political  parties 
change  names  or  disappear,  and  such  may  be  the  fate  of  the  party 
founded  by  Jefferson,  but  in  the  establishment  of  a  system  of  general 
instruction  which  "reaches  every  description  of  our  citizens  from  the 
richest  to  the  poorest,"  and  in  the  foundation  of  state  tmiversities, 
institutions  of  the  people  and  for  the  people,  we  behold,  and  as  long  as 
this  Republic  endures  our  children's  children  shall  behold,  the  tri- 
umph of  Jeffersonian  principles  and  springing  therefrom  in  unwithering 
beauty  the  topmost  flower  of  American  democracv. 

It  is  true  that  Jefferson,  the  greatest  educational  statesman  of  the 
New  World,  did  not  live  to  see  the  full  fruition  of  his  hopes,  nor  did 
"Virginia's  grand,  imperial  man,"  the  immortal  Washington,  who, 
anticipating  by  a  hundred  years  the  plans  of  Cecil  Rhodes  for  Oxford, 
labored  for  the  foundation  of  a  great  national  university.  Such  an 
institution,  he  hoped,  would  bind  together  the  discordant  sections  of 
the  Republic  and  secure  for  it  intellectual,  as  well  as  political,  inde- 
pendence— an  institution,  which,  in  time,  might  have  made  real  the 
dream  of  Bacon  in  his  Nova  Atlantis,  who  saw  in  the  far  West  a  uni- 
versity, the  end  of  "whose  foundations  was  the  knowledge  of  the 
causes  and  secret  notions  of  things,  and  the  enlargement  of  the 
bounds  of  the  human  empire  to  the  effecting  of  all  things  possible." 

(382) 


73 

Finally,  in  the  South  was  established  the  first  real  university  with 
graduate  courses  and  departments  of  research — a  university  that 
revolutionized  the  whole  field  of  higher  education — whose  influence, 
Dr.  Harper  tells  us.  has  been  most  potent — The  Johns  Hopkins  Uni- 
versity of  Baltimore.  Why  Dr.  Remsen,  president  of  this  great 
southern  university,  came  here  as  a  representative  of  eastern  institu- 
tions, he  has  already  had  the  goodness  to  explain. 

Imbued  with  the  spirit  of  the  South's  illustrious  champions  of 
education  and  democracv,  I  come  to  you,  not  as  a  Southerner,  but  as 
an  American ;  and  I  beg  of  you  to  think  of  us  no  longer  as  aliens  and  as 
lovers  of  mob  law  and  violence,  but  as  friends  of  the  Republic  and  as 
coworkers  in  the  great  commonwealth  of  letters. 


RESPONSE  FOR  UNIVERSITIES  AND  TECHNICAL  SCHOOLS 

OF  THE  STATE 

Harry  Pratt  Judsox,  LL.D. 
Dean,  University  of  Chicago 

On  behalf  of  the  technical  schools  and  universities  in  Illinois  which 
are  of  private  foundation  I  bring  greeting  to  the  State  University  on 
this  auspicious  occasion.  It  is  an  idle  and  superficial  view  of  the 
matter  which  considers  institutions  of  this  character  as  competitors 
in  the  sense,  as  in  certain  forms  of  business,  that  the  success  of  one  is 
at  the  expense  of  others.  On  the  contrary,  these  forms  of  what  per- 
haps I  may  call  the  highest  education  are  in  fact  of  necessity  allies — 
each  is  a  positive  benefit  to  all  the  rest,  as  all  make  together  for  their 
common  purpose.  Their  true  analogue  is  not  commercial  rivals 
striving  each  to  grasp  as  much  as  possible  of  a  limited  field  of  business, 
but  rather  separate  bodies  of  military  volunteers  operating  against  a 
common  enemy,  and  this  enemy — ignorance — is  the  ancient  foe  of  all 
social  welfare.  In  this  war  there  is  room  for  all  who  sincerely  love 
the  enlightenment  and  the  progress  of  humanity — there  is  no  room 
for  the  petty  jealousies  which  mark  little  minds. 

This  I  believe  to  be  eminently  true  in  educational  finance.  In  a 
late  report  of  the  national  Commissioner  of  Education  there  is  record 
of  benefactions  from  private  individuals  to  higher  institutions  of 
learning  in  the  year  1900-01  amounting  to  $14,016,998,  distributed 
among  thirty-three  institutions,  each  reporting  gifts  of  one  hundred 
thousand  dollars  or  over.  These  institutions,  without  exception,  were 
on  private  foundations.  While  we  are  well  aware  that  there  have  been 
considerable  gifts  to  state  institutions,  still  these  at  the  most  are  com- 
paratively small,  and,  knowing  the  conditions  that  usually  prevail, 
it  is  surely  safe  to  infer  that,  had  it  not  been  for  the  institutions  which 
as  a  matter  of  fact  benefited  by  the  gifts,  there  would  have  been  a  loss 

(383) 


74 

of  the  whole  amount  to  the  cause  of  education.  On  the  other  hand, 
there  is  little  reason  to  suppose  that  there  would  have  been  any  sponta- 
neous uprising  on  the  part  of  taxpayers  demanding  a  corresponding  in- 
crease of  their  burdens  for  a  similar  enrichment  of  state  institutions. 

As  things  have  turned  out,  however,  the  great  beneficence  which  of 
late  years  has  enriched  the  coffers  of  private  schools  and  universities 
has,  it  is  well  understood,  by  no  means,  hindered  liberal  appropria- 
tions for  the  support  of  institutions  maintained  by  the  state.  Indeed 
the  rapid  development  made  possible  by  private  benefactions  has  been 
a  vivid  object  lesson  which  it  is  said  has  not  been  lost  on  legislators. 
It  is  perhaps  not  too  much  to  say  that  the  generosity  which  has  estab- 
lished Stanford  and  Chicago  among  universities,  Armour  and  Bradley 
and  Lewis  among  technical  schools,  has  thus  indirectly  been  the  means 
of  providing  other  millions  for  the  state  universities.  Thus  has 
beneficence  been  thrice  blessed — it  has  blessed  those  who  have  given 
and  those  who  have  received  and  their  neighbors  also. 

It  will  further  be  admitted,  I  think,  that  the  rich  endowment  of 
the  private  technical  schools  in  our  State  has  on  the  whole  been  far 
from  lessening  the  number  of  students  who  have  thronged  to  the 
excellent  technical  schools  of  the  Illinois  State  Universitv.  Each 
of  these  private  foundations  has  been  the  means  of  opening  the  minds 
of  many  young  men  to  the  idea  of  technical  training.  Where  possibly 
one  young  man  has  been  attracted  from  going  to  Champaign,  doubtless 
many  have  been  turned  to  technical  professions  who  otherwise 
would  not  have  dreamed  of  such  a  life,  and  of  these  the  State  Uni- 
versity has  had  its  full  share.  In  short,  all  combined  have  merely 
prepared  for  the  various  engineering  vocations  an  increasing  number 
of  students,  and  all  combined  have  not  been  able  to  supply  the  grow- 
ing demands  of  our  complex  material  energies.  As  the  nation  be- 
comes richer  and  as  its  resources  progressively  unfold  there  is  a  steadily 
multiplying  call  for  trained  intelligence,  with  which  as  yet  the  schools 
cannot  keep  pace.     All  the  schools  are  needed. 

If  this  is  true  of  technical  schools,  far  more  emphatically  is  it  true 
of  universities.  Of  course  by  a  university  I  mean  here  not  an  army  of 
students,  nor  merely  a  federation  of  schools.  I  use  the  term  in  its 
highest  modern  sense  as  implying  an  institution  whose  primary  pur- 
pose is  research — the  discovery  of  new  truth.  Of  such  institutions 
there  cannot  be  too  many,  nor  can  they  be  too  richly  endowed,  whether 
from  public  taxes  or  from  private  munificence;  ^and  this  because  on 
all  sides  the  call  for  investigation  is  daily  more  pressing.  Science  as  it 
broadens  the  circle  of  the  known  ever  comes  into  more  multifarious 
contact  with  the  unknown.  As  we  painfully  learn  one  new  principle 
we  at  once  find  that  we  must  know  a  dozen  others,  each  pressingly 
grave  in  its  import  on  human  Hfe  in  its  environment.  All  which  the 
state  can  do,  all  that  can  be  done  by  private  wealth,  will  still  not  be 

(384) 


75 

enough.  The  nation  which  does  not  devote  every  energy  to  the 
tireless  exploration  of  every  field  of  possible  knowledge  is  already 
decadent.  Facts  in  recent  history  bearing  on  this  truth  are  too 
significant  even  for  mention.  We  can  look  for  no  richer  return  on 
anv  of  our  funds  than  on  those  which  we  devote  to  scientific  research. 
We  need  for  this  the  funds  of  the  state,  and  also  the  funds  of  all  who 
will  give. 

Again,  a  sound  social  philosophy  will  hold  that  state  and  private 
foundations  for  these  high  purposes  are  mutually  interdependent.  The 
two  poles  of  modern  society  are  the  organized  state  and  the  individual. 
Excessive  control  by  the  state  is  tyranny,  and  tyranny  means  spirit- 
ual death,  the  decay  of  every  vital  force.  Excess  of  individualism  is 
anarch V,  and  that  means  the  dissolution  of  the  social  bond  and  the 
disintegration  of  civilization.  We  need  the  state  and  the  individual 
each  in  vigorous  life.  Thus  in  the  higher  training  and  in  the  pursuit 
of  knowledge  the  institution  on  private  foundation  needs  the  ex- 
ample of  the  stability  of  that  maintained  by  the  state,  while  the  state 
university  is  supplemented  and  stimulated  by  the  free  spirit  of  the 
private  institutions.  The  two  together,  then,  fulfill  the  best  ideals  of 
the  republic. 

It  is  from  this  point  of  view  that,  on  behalf  of  the  private  technical 
schools  and  universities  of  the  State,  I  bring  greeting  today  to  our 
State  Universitv.  It  is  our  university  also,  for  we  too  are  sons  of 
Illinois.  We  gladly  congratulate  you  on  the  wise  leadership  which 
today  is  formally  inaugurated.  No  one,  I  think,  knows  better  than  I 
the  higher  ideals,  the  large  purpose,  and  the  intelligent  energy  of 
President  James.  If,  moreover,  any  apprehensiveness  has  been 
aroused  in  your  minds  by  the  uncanny  suggestion  of  President  Angell, 
it  seems  to  me  that  it  may  be  allayed.  I  trust  and  believe  that  your 
freshmen  have  not  learned  the  cigarette  habit.  I  am  convinced  that 
your  President  has  not  yet  formed  the  inaugurative  habit.  It  is  for 
you  to  keep  both  from  these  unfortunate  ways.  And  we  heartily 
and  unanimously  urge  on  the  authorities  of  our  loved  commonwealth 
here  present  that  they  give  to  our  State  University  careful  and 
thoughtful  attention,  generous  and  wise  support.  In  giving  to  it  they 
give  to  all ;  better,  they  give  to  the  great  cause  for  which  all  are  jointly 
working,  the  cause  of  sound  learning  and  scientific  advance.  In  these, 
more  than  in  com  and  cattle  and  railroads,  lies  the  true  wealth  of 
Illinois. 


(385) 


76 

RESPONSE  FOR  THE  COLLEGES  OF  THE  STATE 

Charles  H.  Rammelkamp,  Ph.D. 
President  of  Illinois  College,  Jacksonville 

Corn  and  colleges  are  the  pride  of  Illinois.  The  greatest  corn-pro- 
ducing state  of  the  Union  has  also  been  most  prolific  in  producing 
colleges.  Like  Ohio  and  Pennsylvania,  Illinois  is  the  mother  of  a 
numerous  progeny  of  small  colleges.  It  is  therefore,  Mr.  President, 
from  a  large  family  that  I  bring  you  this  morning  cordial  greetings 
and  best  wishes,  and  I  know  that  I  speak  not  only  for  the  institution 
which  I  represent  directly,  but  for  every  college  of  the  State,  when  I 
wish  you  God-speed  in  the  great  work  which  you  are  undertaking. 
The  colleges  of  Illinois  rejoice  that  a  man  of  your  intellectual  attain- 
ments, executive  ability,  and  broad  sympathies  has  been  called  to  the 
presidency  of  the  State  University,  and  they  look  to  you  with  hope; 
nav,with  more  than  hope,  with  confidence,  that  under  your  wise  ad- 
ministration the  University  of  Illinois  will  pursue  a  policy  that  will 
advance  the  general  educational  interests  of  the  whole  State.  As  a 
representative  of  Illinois  College  it  gives  me  peculiar  pleasure  to  bring 
you  greetings  this  morning,  for  it  was  a  member  of  our  own  early 
facultv,  Jonathan  B.  Turner,  who  was  a  pioneer  in  the  movement  for 
the  establishment  of  state  universities  and  a  member  of  the  first 
faculty  of  the  University  of  Illinois.  Therefore,  just  as  Illinois  College 
aided,  as  it  were,  in  founding  the  State  University,  so  today  she 
rejoices  in  the  prosperity  which  has  come  to  the  institution  and  in  the 
bright  promise  of  its  future. 

The  relation  of  the  colleges  of  Illinois  to  the  State  University  in- 
volves, it  must  be  confessed,  a  large  and  difficult  problem.  The  con- 
ditions in  our  State  are  peculiar  and  different  from  those  existing  in 
manv  other  states.  In  such  states  as  Wisconsin,  Michigan,  Minnesota 
and  Nebraska  there  exists  but  one  large  institution  of  higher  learning, 
and  that  is  the  state  university :  nor  is  the  number  of  smaller  colleges 
in  those  states  large.  The  result  is  that  interest  and  eff'ort  center 
largely  in  the  state  institution.  It  is  the  only  real  university  in  the 
state.  The  problem  is  comparatively  simple,  for  it  involves  only  the 
relation  of  a  single  large  institution  to  a  few  smaller  ones.  The 
practical  solution  of  the  problem  there  is  that  the  state  university 
dominates  the  whole  educational  system  of  the  state,  but  in  our  own 
commonwealth  the  conditions  are  different  and  the  problem  is  not  so 
simple.  Instead  of  one  large  institution  we  have  at  least  three,  and 
instead  of  ten  small  colleges  we  have  over  thirty.  We  may  as  well 
not  close  our  eyes,  then,  to  the  fact  that  a  perplexing  situation  con- 
fronts us;  it  will  be  best  to  face  the  issue  squarely.  We  may  not  be 
able  to  settle  the  question  in  a  day,  or  even  in  a  year,  but  a  frank 
discussion  will  greatly  aid  towards  a  proper  adjustment  of  our  rela- 

(386) 


77 

tions  and  a  mutually  helpful  settlement  of  our  difficulties.  It  was 
Matthew  Arnold,  I  believe,  who  said,  "  It  is  better  to  discuss  a  question 
without  settling  it  than  to  settle  it  without  discussing  it.  " 

It  is  not  to  be  denied  that  there  exists  in  many  of  our  states  an 
antagonism  between  the  colleges  and  the  state  imiversities.  Says  a 
well  known  and  well  informed  educator  of  a  nearby  university,  "The 
source  of  greatest  trouble  to  many  of  our  small  colleges  in  the  South, 
and  especially  in  the  western  states,  is  the  state  university.  Slowly  the 
influence  of  this  institution  has  gained  ground  until  in  some  states  it 
has  become  almost  impossible  for  the  colleges  to  continue  their  work 
with  satisfaction.  So  strong  has  the  antagonism  come  to  be  that  in 
more  than  one  state  the  smaller  colleges  have  joined  in  an  alliance  the 
object  of  which  is  to  meet  the  rapid  encroachments  of  the  state  insti- 
tutions. In  the  whole  of  the  Mississippi  valley  there  are  not  more 
than  two  or  three  non-state  institutions  which  today  do  not  stand  in 
actual  fear  of  the  state  institutions." 

The  small  college  has  been  assured  by  kind,  frank  friends  that  it  is 
in  danger  of  freezing  to  death  in  the  shadow  of  the  state  university, 
and  so  it  has  not  always  felt  kindly  towards  the  body  which  casts  the 
shadow.  In  the  course  of  discussion,  and  more  especially  in  the  course 
of  the  keen,  practical  competition  for  patronage,  hot  words  have  been 
spoken,  angry  blows  have  been  struck,  some  of  them,  I  fear,  even  be- 
low the  belt.  Is  it  then  really  a  struggle  for  existence,  and  is  there 
no  avenue  of  escape  from  the  mean,  jealous  antagonism  that  seems  to 
be  manifesting  itself  in  some  quarters?  Let  us  see  what  the  real  or 
supposed  grounds  of  antagonism  are. 

The  question  of  the  college  and  the  state  university  involves  two 
sets  of  problems.  First,  those  growing  out  of  the  relation  of  colleges 
and  universities  in  general,  and  secondly,  those  arising  from  the 
special  relation  of  the  colleges  and  the  state  university.  Thus  the 
relation  of  the  colleges  of  our  State  to  the  State  University  is  part  of 
the  greater  problem  of  the  college  and  the  university.  Far  be  it  from 
my  purpose  at  this  time  to  attempt  an  elaborate  consideration  of  the 
larger  problem.  That  the  college  is  in  a  stage  of  transition  needs  no 
proof;  nor  need  it  be  explained  that  in  this  process  of  transition  the 
college  has  undergone  and  must  still  further  undergo  many  funda- 
mental changes.  Pressed  between  the  upper  stone  of  the  university 
and  the  nether  stone  of  the  high  school,  the  college,  once  the  crowning 
glory  of  our  educational  system,  is  losing  its  earlier  form  and  character. 
The  colleges  with  their  decreasing  endowments  and  their  increasing 
deficits  find  it  a  heart-breaking  race  to  keep  up  with  the  universities 
with  their  millions  of  endowment  and  magnificent  equipment.  The 
college  numbers  its  students  by  hundreds,  the  university  by  thousands. 

But  besides  these  difficulties  which  characterize  generally  the 
relation    between    the    college    and    the    university,    further    special 

(387) 


78 

problems  arise  out  of  the  relationship  of  the  state  university  and  the 
college.  If  the  feeling  of  fear  or  hostility  on  the  part  of  the  college 
towards  the  privately  endowed  universities  has  been  great,  still 
greater  in  many  quarters  has  been  the  antagonism  towards  the  state 
university.  The  reasons  for  this  attitude  are  several.  In  the  first 
place,  it  has  been  charged  that  the  state  university  fosters  an  irreligious 
spirit,  and  the  friends  of  the  small  church  college,  ever  anxious  for  the 
moral  and  religious  salvation  of  the  young  people  of  our  land,  have 
looked  with  fear  at  the  large  state  universities  without  compulsory 
chapel  services,  with  inadequate  courses  in  Bible  study,  and  with  no 
official  sanction  of  religious  effort.  Not  a  few  pastors  and  other  well 
intentioned  persons  look  at  the  state  university  as  a  place  that  fosters 
infidelity.  Secondly,  the  absence  of  tuition  charges  at  the  state  uni- 
versity makes  it  a  keener  competitor  than  the  privately  endowed 
institution.  The  small  colleges  usually  appeal  for  patronage  on  the 
ground  that  they  can  furnish  an  education  at  cheaper  cost  than  the 
larger  universities,  and  in  comparison  with  the  private  institutions 
this  is  undoubtedly  true,  for  in  most  instances  their  tuition  is  twice 
and  in  many  cases  three  times  as  high.  But  in  comparison  with  the 
state  university  the  appeal  loses  much  of  its  force,  for  although  living 
expenses  and  fees  may  be  higher,  tuition  is  free.  The  keener  the 
competition  the  stronger  the  hostility  is  apt  to  be.  In  the  third  place, 
the  state  university  is  a  very  keen  competitor  becavise  of  what  may  be 
called  its  public  position.  It  is  virtually  a  part  of  the  system  of  public 
education  and  is  so  very  closely  allied  to  the  public  high  school  that 
the  stream  of  students  is  naturally  turned  towards  the  state  university. 

These,  then,  are  some  of  the  problems.  Do  they  imply  that  it  is  a 
battle  to  the  death,  a  fight  to  the  finish,  the  finish  of  the  small  college? 
Must  there  be  antagonism,  and  is  combined  effort  for  the  great  cause 
of  education  impossible?  No  one  would  seriously  contend  that  the 
death-knell  of  the  small  college  has  been  sounded.  There  seems  in- 
deed to  be  a  reaction  in  favor  of  the  college.  The  mission  of  the  college 
in  the  educational  system  of  the  country  may  not  be  what  it  was  a 
half  century  ago,  but  it  still  has  a  noble  work  to  perform  which  no 
other  agency  can  accomplish.  The  recent  magnificent  gifts  to  the 
cause  of  the  college  are  but  the  evidence  of  a  practical  faith  in  a  just, 
worthy,  permanent  cause.  I  hope  and  believe  that  we  shall  also  dis- 
cover that  the  grounds  of  antagonism  between  the  college  and  the 
state  university  are  more  imaginary  than  real,  and  that  combined 
effort  is  both  possible  and  desirable. 

Each  institution  has  a  wide  field  and  a  worthy  mission,  and  if  the 
friends  of  each  will  only  appreciate  better  the  exact  nature  of  that 
mission,  misunderstanding  will  cease  and  harmonious  effort  can  pre- 
vail. Many  of  the  difficulties  arising  from  the  keen  competition  for 
patronage  will  vanish  if  we  only  always  recognize  that  there  is  an 

(388) 


.     79 

object  greater  than  the  success  of  any  particular  institution  or  class  of 
institutions.  That  object  is  the  general  educational  progress  of  the 
state,  and  with  this  higher  aim  clearly  before  us,  the  petty  misunder- 
standing must  roll  awav. 

The  small  colleges  with  habits  and  traditions  of  a  long  past,  will 
have  to  adjust  themselves  to  the  new  conditions,  and  those  which 
refuse  to  recognize  that  conditions  have  changed  will  simplv  miss 
their  opportunity.  Let  us  reason  together  and  be  mutuallv  helpful. 
Although  it  will  doubtless  remain  a  fact  that  the  small  college,  if  it  is 
true  to  its  highest  ideals,  will  offer  the  better  opportunity  for  moral 
and  religious  training,  it  is  absurd  to  call  the  state  university  a  nest  of 
infidelity.  As  long  as  state  universities  have  on  their  faculties,  as 
they  now  have,  men  of  high  Christian  character  their  influence  must 
be  good.  The  small,  the  good  small  college,  does  not  fear  the  con- 
tinued growth  and  prosperity  of  the  state  university.  Most  cheerfully 
does  it  surrender  to  the  state  university  the  whole  field  of  technical, 
professional  and  graduate  instruction.  The  state  universitv  may 
attract  thousands  of  students,  but  there  always  will  remain  some,  and 
their  number  is  large,  who  prefer  the  smaller  college  nearer  home. 
The  close  connection  between  the  state  university  and  the  high  school 
may  decrease  the  patronage  of  the  college,  but  how  small  is  this  danger 
in  view  of  the  good  influence  which  the  state  university  is  exercising 
in  raising  the  standard  of  work  in  the  preparatory  schools. 

We  are  interested  in  the  progress  of  the  State  Universitv  because  it 
is  a  public  institution.  It  has  the  sanction  and  support  of  the  public 
opinion  of  our  commonwealth  and  we  unite  with  all  good,  patriotic 
citizens  in  wishing  it  a  success  that  shall  place  it  in  the  front  rank  of 
American  state  universities.  Its  glory  is  our  glory.  We  rejoice  in  its 
success  because  the  institution  is  part  of  a  most  wise  and  beneficent 
system  of  federal  aid  to  education.  We  rejoice  in  its  progress  because 
that  means  the  advancement  of  the  general  cause  of  education  in 
Illinois.  Rivalry  between  the  colleges  and  the  State  Universitv  will 
continue,  but  let  it  be  generous;  let  it  not  degenerate  into  antagonistic 
jealousy. 

Once  more  we  offer  our  sincerest  congratulations  to  the  new  Presi- 
dent. We  view  with  pleasure  the  probable  results  of  his  administra- 
tion because  we  know  that  his  varied  experience  and  generous  sym- 
pathies have  prepared  him  thoroughly  to  understand  our  problems. 
Furthermore,  his  public  utterances  and  his  policy  as  president  of  one 
of  the  largest  denominational  universities  in  the  United  States  give 
the  friends  of  the  college  the  utmost  confidence  in  him.  Again  the 
colleges  of  Illinois  wish  him  God-speed. 


(389) 


80    . 

RESPONSE    FOR   THE    NORMAL   SCHOOLS    OF   THE    STATE 

John  W.  Cook,  LL.D. 

President  of  Northern  Illinois  State  Normal  School,  De  Kalb 

It  is  my  agreeable  duty  today  to  be  the  bearer  of  the  cordial  and 
sincere  greeting  of  the  state  normal  schools  of  Illinois  to  this  young, 
vigorous,  and  expanding  University. 

While  I  have  no  official  credentials  from  those  whom  I  am  to  repre- 
sent I  am  sure  that  I  shall  do  no  violence  to  their  feelings  in  what  I  am 
about  to  say.  So  far  as  I  am  informed,  and  I  believe  myself  well 
informed  in  this  particular,  there  is  but  one  sentiment  among  the 
members  of  the  boards  of  control  and  of  the  faculties  of  our  normal 
schools  with  regard  to  the  University  of  Illinois.  The  poHcy  of  the 
University  has  been  so  liberal,  so  free  from  academic  prejudice,  so 
willing  to  concede  to  the  normal  schools  all  that  their  most  partial 
friends  could  justly  ask,  that  the  spectacle,  so  often  and  so  unhappily 
presented  in  some  of  our  American  states,  of  discordant  and  warring 
factions  in  pubHc  education  has  never  been  witnessed  in  Illinois. 

It  is  an  interesting  fact  that  the  existing  arrangement  by  which 
the  graduates  of  the  state  normal  schools  are  received  at  the  University 
was  originated  and  put  into  operation  by  the  University  Faculty 
without  any  soHcitation  on  the  part  of  the  normal  schools.  They 
were  well  understood  within  the  official  circles  of  the  Universtiy. 
Some  of  the  men  to  whom  it  is  indebted  for  its  honorable  repute  were 
from  the  benches  of  the  normal  school,  while  others  had  served  in  its 
faculty.  When  the  University  said  to  the  normal  schools,  "If  your 
matriculates  are  prepared  to  enter  all  of  our  courses  without  conditions 
we  will  give  to  your  instruction  full  recognition,"  it  dignified  their 
faculties  by  elevating  them  to  university  rank,  and  thus  threw  upon 
them  the  responsibility  of  meeting  their  consequent  obHgations. 

This  attitude  of  the  University  has  told  most  significantly  upon 
popular  elementary  education.  In  the  course  of  ordinary  events  it 
will  happen  that  some  of  its  graduates  will  become  teachers.  They 
will  gravitate  by  natural  preference  to  the  secondary  or  higher  schools. 
But  the  normal  graduates  that  seek  these  class  rooms  have  selected 
education  as  their  life  work.  Moreover,  they  have  generally  been 
attracted  to  elementary  education  by  the  impulse  which  they  received 
from  the  normal  schools.  Its  problems  have  awakened  their  warmest 
interest.  They  have  discovered  their  difficulties  and  their  tremendous 
significance.  They  have  made  the  further  interesting  discovery  that 
these  problems  furnish  a  field  for  the  exercise  of  the  best  capacities  of 
the  most  generously  endowed  minds,  and  that  the  American  public  is 
quick  to  recognize  and  reward  the  men  and  women  who  are  able  to 
solve  them  in  a  superior  way.  Impressed  by  these  considerations 
large  numbers  of  them  are  going  to  the  University  for  that  better 

(390) 


81 

equipment  of  which  they  keenly  feel  the  need.  Thev  are  to  be  the 
prophets  of  a  new  educational  dispensation,  and  with  characteristic 
ardor  they  press  themselves  against  the  disciplines  of  the  University 
in  order  that  they  may  suitably  prepare  themselves  for  this  fine  service 
to  the  children  of  this  noble  commonwealth  of  which  we  so  proudly 
declare  ourselves  citizens.  I  regard  these  conditions  as  of  immense 
import  to  the  life  of  the  time  and  I  must  confess  myself  unable  to  see 
where  the  University  can  touch  the  masses  of  the  people  in  a  more 
frmtful  and  inspiring  way.  It  goes  without  saying  that  through  the 
influence  of  these  cultured  teachers,  every  one  of  whom  will  be  a  prop- 
agandist for  liberal  culture  for  the  common  people,  countless  high- 
ways will  be  opened  from  the  elementary  schools  to  the  University, 
thus  enormously  enriching  our  common  life. 

In  many  ways  the  University  has  been  peculiarly  fortunate  in  its 
executive  heads.  They  have  all  been  men  who  believed  in  the  whole 
people.  They  were  free  from  that  medicevalism  which  forever  strives 
to  separate  the  cultivated  man  from  his  less  favored  fellow.  •  The 
first  president  was  not  only  a  man  of  splendid  intellectual  capacity 
and  fine  training,  but  he  also  understood  the  elementary  school, 
having  served  as  superintendent  of  public  instruction  in  one  of  our 
western  states.  It  interested  him  profoundly,  and  the  constant  and 
close  affiliation  of  the  University  with  schools  of  lower  grade  is  due  in 
no  small  degree  to  the  impulse  in  that  direction  which  he  gave  during 
his  long  management  of  its  affairs.  And  who  that  heard  his  addresses 
on  popular  education  can  ever  forget  them!  They  have  never  been 
surpassed  and  have  rarely  been  equalled  in  the  educational  history  of 
Illinois.  His  successor  in  office  was  full  of  the  same  spirit  and  had 
served  a  generous  term  in  public  high  schools.  And  when  an  interim 
occurred  and  events  needed  to  await  the  selection  of  a  new  president, 
the  man  of  all  men  connected  with  the  University,  who  was  the  unani- 
mous choice  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  to  hold  the  reins  of  power 
temporarily,  began  his  professional  career  as  a  teacher  in  an  elementary 
school  and  also  trained  himself  for  his  work  by  the  disciplines  of  a 
state  normal  school.  The  man  who  last  retired  from  the  presidency 
to  take  up  the  duties  of  the  most  commanding  educational  position  in 
America,  had  been  a  superintendent  of  public  instruction  in  the 
Empire  State  and  came  to  the  University  from  the  head  of  a  great 
city  system.  He  thus  added  to  his  fine  native  capacities  and  his 
generous  culture  the  experience  of  years  in  the  closest  relations  with 
elementary  schools. 

Nor  have  I  forgotten  the  dommiating  idea  that  was  in  the  minds  of 
those  who  deserve  the  distinguished  honor  of  founding  the  University. 
It  came  from  the  warm  hearts  and  the  fertile  brains  of  men  who 
sincerely  and  zealously  sought  to  join  in  a  fine  unity  labor  and  learning, 
and  thus  to  enrich  by  a  noble  and  practical  culture  the  lives  of  the 

(391) 


82 

common  man  and  woman.  The  University  has  been  true  to  the 
spirit  that  brought  it  into  being.  Its  expansion  has  been  along  the 
Hnes  which  its  founders  contemplated  so  far  as  their  vision  forsaw  the 
possibilities  and  demands  of  the  modern  world.  If  they  are  permitted 
to  revisit  the  scenes  of  their  earthly  life,  with  what  satisfaction  they 
must  view  the  surpassing  revelations  of  modern  science  and  the  min- 
istry to  our  common  life  through  their  adaptation  to  the  service  of 
man  by  the  University.  Nor  have  the  more  distinctively  spiritual 
needs  of  men  and  women  been  forgotten.  A  fine  idealism  has  kept 
step  with  the  development  of  the  great  agencies  that  make  for  material 
prosperity  and  it  has  not  been  forgotten  that  man  cannot  live  by  bread 
alone. 

The  latest  born  of  the  colleges  of  the  University  appeals  with 
especial  force  to  the  normal  schools.  Under  the  present  organization 
of  those  institutions  their  main  function  must  be  the  preparation  of 
teachers  for  elementary  schools.  The  crying  need  of  the  time  is  a 
sufficient  supply  of  trained  men  and  women  to  equip  the  rural,  village, 
town  and  city  schools  with  competent  managers  and  teachers.  There 
is  no  public  interest  that  is  managed  with  such  slight  regard  for  the 
most  familiar  economic  principles.  While  it  is  true  that  a  notable 
gain  has  been  made  within  recent  years,  there  is  no  other  country  of 
our  rank  that  does  not  overshadow  us  in  this  particular.  The  recent 
educational  legislation  in  England  aroused  more  popular  interest  than 
the  economic  leanings  of  the  ministry.  France  and  Germany  are 
generous  competitors  in  their  efforts  to  professionalize  their  teachers. 
The  dreadful  war,  now  so  happily  ended  through  the  intervention  of 
our  wise  and  humane  President,  is  a  thrilling  chapter  in  the  story  of 
the  education  of  a  race. 

But  we  are  now  in  the  greatest  need  of  an  institution  for  the  edu- 
cation of  experts  on  the  basis  of  university  education.  The  call  for 
special  teachers  of  manual  training,  domestic  science,  art,  language, 
agriculture,  is  loud  and  insistent.  The  demand  is  far  greater  than  the 
supply.  Every  countv  superintendent  of  schools  should  be  equipped 
for  his  work  by  a  specific  discipline.  Reflect  for  a  moment  upon  what 
is  possible  with  a  man  or  a  woman  with  such  a  preparation  in  every 
one  of  the  one  hundred  two  counties  in  Illinois.  We  believe  in  the 
principle  of  supervision,  yet  we  are  careless  as  to  the  qualifications  of 
our  supervisors.  Every  village,  town,  and  city  must  have  its  principal 
or  superintendent  in  the  interests  of  common  economy,  yet  the 
majority  are  without  the  training  to  make  them  efficient.  We  hail 
with  pleasure  the  advent  of  the  new  School  of  Education.  Let  it 
be  generously  equipped  and  enthusiastically  supported.  Let  its 
administration  be  so  skillful  that  men  and  women  aspiring  to  the 
highest  skill  in  teaching  and  to  the  completest  mastery  of  modem 
educational  problems  will  not  need  to  go  to  the  older  East  for  instruc- 

(392) 


83 

tion.  Let  it  be  the  generous  rival  of  the  School  of  Education  of  the 
University  of  Chicago,  the  two  institutions  arousing  each  other  to  a 
noble  emulation  in  a  great  cause. 

The  occasion  that  calls  us  here  today  is  full  of  interest  to  the  men 
and  women  of  the  normal  schools.  It  is  thirty-seven  years  since  my 
attention  was  especially  attracted  by  a  studious  lad  who  sat  in  one  of 
the  forms  of  a  room  xmder  my  charge  in  the  training  department  of  a 
normal  school.  The  only  reproof  that  I  can  recall  ever  having  given 
him  was  for  too  close  application  to  his  books.  I  have  heard  him 
occasionally  indulge  himself  with  certain  anecdotes  that  do  not 
exactly  square  with  that  statement,  but  they  rather  illustrate  the 
growth  of  the  myth  than  contribute  to  historical  verities,  I  suspect. 
It  was  in  that  institution  that  he  fitted  for  college  and  at  sixteen 
engaged  in  successful  debate  with  men  of  twice  his  age.  I  often 
thought  that  he  was  predestined  to  skip  the  period  of  youth  beacuse 
of  the  soberness  and  severity  of  his  mental  inclinations,  but  I  have 
since  discovered  that  he  was  only  deferring  it  in  order  that  he  might 
make  it  perpetual.  I  need  not  here  recite  with  what  fondness  those 
of  us  who  were  his  teachers  followed  his  career  as  he  availed  himself  of 
the  disciplines  of  great  universities,  and  by  the  patient  investigations 
of  former  and  existing  economic  conditions,  by  a  masterful  grasp  of 
the  genius  of  the  land  of  his  nativity,  and  by  a  fearlessness  and  vigor 
unsurpassed  among  modem  scholars  fitted  himself  for  notable  service 
to  his  time.  We  know  that  he  understands  the  significance  of  the 
university  in  our  modem  life.  Those  of  us  who  are  responsible  for 
the  management  of  normal  schools  know  that  he  understands  our 
problem  as  well  and  the  problem  of  the  secondary  and  of  the  ele- 
mentary school.  We  most  cordially  approve  the  wisdom  of  the  Board 
of  Trustees  in  elevating  him  to  this  high  office  which  he  is  so  admirably 
fitted  to  adom,  and  w^e  hail  with  peculiar  satisfaction  this  interesting 
event  which  officially  and  formally  endows  with  authority  a  man  to 
whom  we  are  joined  in  bonds  of  the  warmest  personal  affection  and 
for  whose  genius  and  scholarship  and  commanding  character  we  have 
the  profoundest  admiration. 


RESPONSE  FOR  THE  HIGH  SCHOOLS  OF  THE  STATE 

James  E.  Armstrong,  A.M. 
Principal  of  the  Englewood  High  School,  Chicago 

I  regret  very  much  that  my  colaborer  and  associate,  Mr.  Buck,  is 
unable  to  be  here  today;  but  it  is  a  great  pleasure  to  me,  as  a  repre- 
sentative of  the  high  schools  of  the  State,  to  extend  to  President  James 
the  cordial  greetings  of  the  high  schools  of  the  State.  I  am  sure  if 
they  could  have  a  voice  here  they  would  give  an  eflective  address  in 
the  expression  of  their  confidence  in  the  ability  and  attainments  of 

(393) 


84 

the  President  of  the  University  to  care  for  the  educational  affairs  that 
will  be  entrusted  to  him  here. 

The  high  schools  of  the  State  occupy  a  rather  peculiar  position  in 
the  State  educational  system.  We  stand  half-wav  between  the  com- 
mon people  and  the  university  people  of  the  State.  We  find  ourselves 
drawn  so  strongly  from  above  and  below,  that  we  think  sometimes 
our  very  existence  is  threatened.  We  find  some  consolation,  however, 
in  the  fact  that  we  have  all  the  good  things  to  be  derived  from  the 
experience  of  the  common  people,  as  well  as  the  inspiration  of  the 
university  above  us.  We  have  the  interest  of  both  at  heart.  We 
look  to  the  university  for  the  inspiration  that  leads  to  the  higher 
ideals  of  scholarship  and  usefulness,  while  we  keep  in  mind  the  peculiar 
needs  of  the  communities  in  which  we  are  placed.  We  come  to  the 
university  naturally  for  friendly  criticism  and  assistance;  and  the 
universities  not  only  of  our  own  State,  but  of  the  adjoining  states, 
have  given  us  great  assistance.  But  we  must  look  especially  to  the 
University  of  the  State  of  Illinois  in  its  official  relation  to  the  schools 
of  the  State.  We  need  the  assistance  of  this  University.  We  have 
great  confidence  in  the  man  whom  the  Trustees  have  so  fortunately 
selected  for  its  head — the  man  who  has  had  experience  in  all  the 
schools  of  the  State,  who  knows  them  thoroughly  from  the  kinder- 
garten to  the  university;  who  has  gathered  up  in  his  experience  the 
best  things  of  the  universities  of  the  world  and  brings  them  to  the 
service  of  this  great  commonwealth ;  I  am  sure  the  high  schools  of  the 
State  will  be  only  too  glad  to  cooperate  with  president  James  in  his 
efforts  to  advance  the  interests  of  education  here.  We  greet  him 
cordially,  and  wish  him  the  greatest  success  in  carrying  forward  this 
work,  and  hope  the  time  will  come  when  his  ideals  will  be  accepted 
throughout  the  State ;  and  when  the  influence  of  this  great  University 
in  scholarship  and  culture  as  well  as  in  practical  things  shall  be  felt 
throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  this  great  State. 


RESPONSE  FOR  THE  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOLS  OF  THE  STATE 

Honorable  Alfred  Bayliss,  A.B. 
State  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction,  Springfield 

During  the  last  year  for  which  we  have  the  figures,  the  public 
school  enrollment  in  Illinois  reached  a  total  of  978,554.  More  than 
four  and  one-half  per  cent,  were  enrolled  in,  and  about  three-tenths  of 
one  per  cent,  graduated  from  high  schools  of  varying  degrees  of 
efficiency.  The  high  schools,  except  in  thirty-six  cases  out  of  a  total 
of  four  hundred  and  fourteen,  are  composed  of  the  last  three  or  four 
grades  of  the  common  schools  in  the  district.  But  seventy-seven  of 
them  are  in  separate  buildings.  It  is  a  moderate  and  fair  statement 
to  say  that  all  of  them  do  some,  and  most  of  them  do  considerable 

(394) 


85 

first-rate  secondary  school  work.  Nearly  three-fourths  of  them  are 
"accredited"  to  the  University.  Upon  the  elementary  schools  in 
the  high  school  districts,  it  is  evident,  therefore,  that  the  University 
ma V  and  does  exert  an  important  direct  influence;  because,  though 
its  immediate  contact  is  with  the  high  school,  all  grades  share  every 
real  benefit  thus  derived.  The  chief  service  performed  by  the  high 
school  is  probably  its  uplift  to  the  grades  below.  By  way  of  the  high 
school  the  University  may  send  the  roots  of  its  influence  deep  into  the 
soil  from  which  its  growth  must  finally  come. 

But  there  are  others.  More  than  one-third  of  all  the  elementary 
school  enrollment  is  in  the  isolated  one-room  schools  out  in  the 
countrv.  Many  of  these  little  schools  are  quite  as  good  as  the  best 
elementary  schools.  Here  and  there  among  them  are  veritable  little 
Drumtochty's,  "having  their  own  distinction,  for  scholars  were  born 
there, —  "  and  masters  who  see  to  it  that  the  trail  is  kept  open  between 
them  and  the  nearest  high  school.  Except  that  any  sort  of  square 
deal  would  make  the  high  school  door  swing  free  for  them,  they,  too, 
find  themselves  within  the  direct  current  of  University  influence. 
But  these  cases  are  the  exception.  In  the  nature  of  the  present  con- 
ditions, thev  must  be.  In  eighty-four  different  counties  of  Illinois 
monthly  wages  of  teachers  go  as  low  as  twenty-five  dollars,  and  the 
average  annual  stipend  of  teachers  of  this  class  falls  below  three 
hundred  dollars.  In  these  schools,  accordingly,  are  practically  all  of 
the  4,428  teachers  with  no  school  education  beyond  the  eighth  grade, 
as  well  as  most  of  the  2,455  others  who  have  had  the  advantage  of  less 
than  any  full  high  school  course.  What  right  has  the  public,  or  this 
University,  to  look  for  trained  or  otherwise  qualified  teachers  under 
such  conditions?  If  we  add  to  the  children  in  these  schools  those 
who  are  in  the  small  semi-graded  schools,  but  without  direct  high 
school  relations,  w^e  shall  have  more  than  half  (four  hundred  fifty 
thousand  pupils)  in  elementary  grades  who  are  as  yet  without  free 
high  school  opportunities.  For  these  children  the  wires  which  bear 
the  current  of  University  influence  are  broken.  Without  violating 
the  principle  that  the  first  care  of  the  whole  common  school  must  be 
for  the  common  needs,  the  University  may  affect  the  tributary  grades 
of  the  strong  accredited  high  school  to  their  mutual  advantage.  It  is 
not  easv  to  see  how  it  can  so  directly  aid  the  others.  Some  adjustment 
of  relations  to  this  large  number,  however,  is  a  duty  of  the  University, 
if  it  is  proposed  to  occupy  and  cultivate  its  whole  field.  For  the 
schools  it  is  merely  fair  play.  For  the  State  it  means  everything 
that  free  education  can  mean  to  fully  one-half  the  people.  To  relate  the 
University  to  the  smaller  elementary  schools,  as  it  is  now  related  to  the 
larger  ones,  is  the  problem  of  most  immediate  importance  in  Illinois. 

Everv'  highly  trained  man  is  a  valuable  social  asset.  There  never 
will  be  too  many.     Extraordinary  characters  will  be  produced  by 

(395) 


86 

the  schools,  or  in  spite  of  them,  in  the  future  as  in  the  past.  But 
more  important  than  either  great  scholarship  or  "genius"  to  the 
general  health  and  strength  of  a  democracy,  is  the  high  general  av- 
erage of  qualification  for  good  citizenship.  That  the  number  who 
receive  the  amount  of  training  represented  by  a  complete  common 
(high)  school  education  can  ever  be  too  large  is  not  conceivable.  No 
formative  agency  of  public  opinion  can  do  more  than  the  University 
to  set  up  the  standard.  None  is  more  willing  to  do  all  that  can  be 
done  to  make  opportunity  free  and  equal. 

Again,  not  everything  is  teaching  that  goes  by  that  name.  The 
school  districts  paid  for  teaching  last  year  nearly  thirteen  million 
dollars.  The  totals  look  large,  but,  as  was  said,  the  sums  paid  to 
individual  teachers  were  sometimes  pitifully  small.  Was  the  service 
paid  for  worth  more  or  less  than  it  cost?  Is  teaching  an  art,  trade,  or 
merely  unskilled  labor?  If  the  teacher  is  not  a  skilled  workman,  who 
is?  Then  what  should  be  the  honest  price  of  a  teacher?  This  Uni- 
versity will  study  the  question,  and  when  it  finds  a  result,  will  pro- 
mulgate it  in  such  a  way  as  to  enlighten  public  opinion.  The  people 
will  pay  what  they  are  convinced  the  best  service  obtainable  is  worth. 

Why  may  not  the  educational  experiment  station  in  time  take 
rank  with  the  agricultural  and  engineering  experiment  stations  ?  Our 
knowledge  of  what  constitutes  the  best  educational  stuff  and  the 
rational  methods  of  using  it  is  far  from  complete.  We  can  no  more 
afford  to  waste  mind  than  lands  or  material.  The  University  can  do 
much  to  so  inform  public  opinion  that  a  supervisor  of  education  who 
does  not  know  that  mere  cramming  of  the  unwilling  memory  of  a 
little  child  with  unmeaning  words  does  not  even  impart  knowledge, 
much  less  educate,  will  soon  be  a  supervisor  out  of  a  job.  It  may 
determine  some  of  the  tokens  by  which  good  teaching  may  be  known, 
as  appropriately  as  it  now  teaches  the  standards  of  a  good  ear  of  corn. 
It  may  even,  some  day,  work  out  the  whole  scheme  of  a  school  of  a 
better  type  than  any  we  have  yet  seen,  and  set  it  up  to  be  studied  as 
a  model. 

The  overwhelming  impression  upon  the  mind  of  the  most  casual 
observer  of  the  university  plan  and  methods  must  be  that  all  this  pro- 
vision for  techincal  training  is  regarded  here  as  a  legitimate  part  of 
the  problem  of  education.  How  far  down  the  line  should  that  belief 
operate?  Does  it  affect  in  any  way  the  processes  of  the  primary 
schools?  The  elementary  needs  of  man  are  food,  clothing  and  shelter. 
To  obtain  these  for  himself  is  at  once  the  first  duty  and  the  most  con- 
stant limitation.  Efficient  life  begins  here.  Power  here  is  the  first 
thing  to  be  obtained.  Until  this  primary  step  in  education  is  taken, 
all  others  seem  to  be  out  of  order.  The  intellectual  measure  of  this 
power  may  not  be  so  very  high.  Ethically,  however,  it  goes  to  the 
heart  of  the  whole  question.     The  home  is  the  corner  stone  of  civili- 

(396) 


87 

zation.  Vocation  is  the  support  of  the  home.  Does  it  not  follow  that 
elementary  education  must  take  vocation,  the  art  of  getting  a  living, 
into  account  r"  Should  not  active  occupations,  as  educational  instru- 
ments, travel  side  by  side  with  the  book  from  the  beginning?  Should 
not  teachers  know  how  to  utilize  the  constructive  and  creative  in- 
stincts of  very  young  children  as  the  right  beginning  of  the  training 
which  culminates  in  the  laboratory  or  the  workshop.  Will  not  the 
University  send  out  supervisors  of  elementary  education  with  some 
conception  of  the  relation  of  these  things  to  the  school  courses  of 
study  ? 

Those  who  have  to  do  with  elementary  schools  confidently  look  to 
the  University  for  these,  and  better  things.  They  believe  that,  in  its 
capacity  of  general  clearing  house  for  educational  ideas  it  will,  in  due 
time,  announce  a  better  thought-out  school  policy  than  we  now  have. 
They  believe  that  the  University  will  be  the  leader  in  the  important 
work  of  coordinating  the  now  disconnected  and  unrelated  parts  of 
our  system  into  a  harmonious  whole. 

Because  they  so  believe,  the  workers  in  elementary  schools  are 
profoundly  interested  in  the  events  of  this  historic  week.  They  re- 
joice with  all  who  rejoice  in  past  achievements,  and  share  every  hope 
of  all  who  believe  that  the  two  most  potent  factors  in  the  extension  and 
improvement  of  common  school  education,  now  in  operation,  are  the 
free  public  high  school  and  the  free  state  university. 


MESSAGE  FROM  PRESIDENT  ROOSEVELT 

President  Roosevelt  sent  the  following  telegram  to  the  University 
Trustees : 

"It  is  with  sincere  rSgret  that  I  find  myself  unable  to  accept  your 
kind  invitation  to  attend  the  installation  of  President  James.  I  wish 
I  were  able  to  be  with  you,  both  because  of  my  high  regard  for  Presi- 
dent James  and  because  of  my  appreciation  of  the  work  being  done  by 
the  Universitv  of  Illinois." 


(397) 


88 

ASSEMBLY  OF  THE  COLLEGE  OF  MEDICINE 

The  Chapel,  Wednesday  Morning,  October  18 

CHARACTER  AS  AN  ELEMENT  OF  SUCCESS  IN  THE  DE- 
VELOPMENT OF  PROFESSIONAL  REPUTATION 

Daniel  A.  K.  Steele,  M.D. 
Professor  in  the  College  of  Medicine,  Chicago 

On  this  auspicious  occasion,  when  the  professional  departments  of 
the  University  of  Illinois  meet  in  this  assembly  hall  to  play  their  part 
in  the  installation  of  a  new  President  and  to  do  honor  to  the  University 
and  its  distinguished  head,  it  is  my  privilege  to  represent  the  College 
of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  of  Chicago — the  College  of  Medicine  of  the 
University  of  Illinois. 

I  congratulate  the  University  upon  the  acquisition  of  such  a  dis- 
tinguished educator  as  President  James  to  guide  its  destinies  and 
develop  its  professional  departments  during  a  period  of  the  world's 
history  that  is  marked  by  phenomenal  advances  in  scientific  thought, 
material  progress  and  professional  attainment,  and  predict  that  under 
his  skillful  guidance  the  next  decade  will  see  our  University  in  the 
forefront  of  educational  institutions  in  this  country. 

At  this  time  when  public  attention  is  daily  drawn  to  examples  of 
shattered  reputations  in  the  ranks  of  our  captains  of  industry,  bankers, 
educators  and  professional  men — shattered  because  they  departed 
from  the  high  ideals  of  youth  and  home,  honesty  and  regard  for  the 
rights  of  others — it  may  not  be  inappropriate  to  say  a  few  words  to 
you  on  the  value  of  character  as  an  element  of  success  in  the  develop- 
ment of  professional  reputation.  Character  iS  the  estimate  we  place 
upon  ourselves.  It  is  the  innate  monitor  we  call  conscience.  Repu- 
tation is  the  estimate  the  world  places  upon  our  achievements. 

Bishop  Spalding  says:  "Our  state  comes  closer  to  us  than  our 
country;  it  awakens  tenderer  recollections,  weaves  about  us  the 
tendrils  of  more  gentle  and  fragrant  affections.  It  calls  forth  feelings 
which  glow  like  the  dawn,  which  soften  and  mellow  like  the  evening 
sky.  It  blends  with  memories  of  the  twining  arms  of  mothers  and 
fathers,  of  the  warm,  unselfish  devotion  of  youthful  friends.  The 
thought  of  it  is  interfused  with  clouds  and  showers  and  the  songs  of 
birds,  and  all  the  glories  of  the  unfolding  world  that  accompanied  us 
when  we  were  young.  " 

So  character  is  intertwined  with  professional  reputation  as  pro- 
fessional departments  are  intertwined  with  the  University.  Each  is 
helpful  to  the  other;  one  cannot  exist  without  the  other. 

There  are  certain  elements  of  character  essential  to  professional 
success.     The  well  educated  mind  looks  beyond  the  mere  semblance 

(398) 


89 

of  things  into  the  higher  realm  of  nature's  laws  and  forces  and  I 
cannot  help  but  think  that  our  early  environments  have  much  to  do 
with  our  future  success.  A  study  of  nature  and  nature's  God  in  early 
life  purifies  and  ennobles  our  whole  subsequent  career. 

To  him  who  has  been  fortunate  enough  to  open  his  eyes  for  the 
first  time  upon  the  light  breaking  over  the  Green  Mountains  of  Ver- 
mont or  the  rugged  grandeur  of  Colorado  peaks,  or  near  the  roaring  of 
a  mightv  ocean  or  the  rushing,  whirling  waters  of  a  turbid  river,  there 
must  ever  remain  an  ineffaceable  memory  picture  of  nature's  wonders; 
and  as  his  budding  brain  realizes  and  appreciates  the  beauties  of  the 
landscape,  the  ever  changing  and  yet  harmonious  colors  of  nature's 
painting, — whether  in  field  or  forest,  in  graden  or  on  hillside,  in  the 
morning  dawn  or  when  lit  by  the  glows  of  an  autumn  sunset, — his 
mind  cannot  fail  to  be  impressed  with  the  grandeur  and  eloquence  of 
nature's  sermons,  nor  can  he  help  realizing  that  a  higher  and  mightier 
power  than  man  rules  the  universe  and  directs  by  an  all-wise  method 
the  mysteries  of  life. 

Thus  imperceptibly,  but  none  the  less  permanently,  he  has  im- 
pressed upon  his  character  by  reason  of  his  environment,  noble 
thoughts,  generous  impulses,  and  an  unconscious  religious  trend. 
His  mind  is  tmsullied  by  the  murky  stream  of  a  city's  vileness,  that 
too  often  dwarfs  and  destroys  the  one  whose  character  is  not  strong 
enough  to  resist  its  baneful  blandishments. 

In  our  own  College  of  Medicine  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  its 
founders  and  leaders  had  their  early  environment  amid  such  surround- 
ings as  I  have  sketched. 

To  succeed  we  must  be  in  love  with  our  profession.  We  must 
have  a  high  conception  of  its  aims  and  objects ;  we  must  idealize  our 
work.  Our  motives  should  be  the  love  of  science,  the  instinct  of 
investigation,  the  desire  to  search  out  the  secrets  of  nature,  and  to 
alleviate  human  suffering.  We  should  be  a  composite  picture,  blend- 
ing in  our  make-up  perfect  health,  mental  vigor,  manliness,  honor, 
honesty,  self-reliance,  courage,  truth  and  conscience,  with  a  devotion 
to  high  ideals  and  an  unwavering  self-confidence.  We  should  be  com- 
posed of  the  rich  and  beautiful  material  gathered  from  all  ages  and 
places.     The  true  professional  man  is  a  mosaic  and  hot  a  single  gem. 

Ideals  change,  but  there  must  be  a  permanent  good — a  lasting, 
beautiful  and  unchanging  truth.  The  ideal  beauty  has  not  yet  come 
in  painting,  statuary  or  music,  and  I  sometimes  think  it  never  will 
come  this  side  the  dawning  of  the  great  millennium,  unless  we  hold 
closely  to  the  ideals  of  youth  and  home,  innocence  and  purity. 

The  world  demands  a  doctor  who  is  educated  all  over,  who  is  ten- 
der, whose  hand  is  steady,  whose  eye  is  clear,  whose  tongue  is  clean, 
whose  brain  is  cultured,  whose  nerves  are  under  perfect  control,  one 
who  is  broad  minded.     It  wants  a  doctor  whose  knowledge  of  disease 

(399) 


90 

has  been  broadened  and  deepened  and  enriched  by  a  wide  experience 
in  general  medicine,  and  sharpened  and  polished  in  some  specialty 
afterwards;  a  doctor  who  has  had  a  hospital  experience,  who  combines 
common  sense  with  experience  and  with  knowledge;  who  has  a  heart 
swelling  with  sympathy  for  the  poor  sufferers  who  seek  his  aid;  who 
carries  a  similing  face  on  his  errands  of  mercy ;  who  prefers  substance 
to  show,  and  who  regards  his  professional  reputation  as  a  priceless 
treasure  to  be  guarded  against  the  alluring  temptations  of  modern 
society  or  the  tempting  bait  of  gold  offered  for  the  prostitution  of  his 
talents  to  the  performance  of  illicit  or  illegal  practices.  It  demands 
that  he  shall  possess  that  innate  monitor  that  we  call  conscience. 
Our  minds  are  given  to  us,  but  our  characters  we  make,  and  the 
molding  of  them  is  the  noblest  work  on  earth.  One's  resolution  is 
one's  prophecy.  There  is  no  future  to  the  man  who  has  no  great 
inspirations. 

The  value  of  professional  reputation,  character  and  success  in  the 
professional  departments  of  the  University,  is  of  inestimable  value 
to  the  University  itself.  Such  departments  attract  the  brainy  young 
men  of  the  State,  they  add  a  thousand  earnest  students  to  her  num- 
bers— add  reputation  and  prestige  to  the  University.  They  interest 
the  city  of  Chicago,  with  its  two  million  inhabitants,  in  the  University; 
they  interest  the  Legislature  in  her  professional  and  scientific  welfare. 
They  are  self-supporting ;  they  are  of  incalculable  value  in  developing 
the  University  along  the  lines  of  greatest  helpfulness  in  protecting  the 
lives  and  the  health  of  her  citizens.  They  are  affiliated  departments 
that  in  the  nature  of  things  must  become  an  integral  part  of  the 
University. 

The  value  to  the  University  of  her  professional  departments  is 
unquestioned;  and  through  all  the  coming  days  and  years  it  will  be 
the  constant  aim  of  the  Faculties  of  the  Colleges  of  Medicine,  Dentistry 
and  Pharmacy  to  cooperate  with  the  University  and  our  President  for 
the  best  development  of  the  University,  and  to  develop  purity  of  life, 
dignity  of  character,  professional  enthusiasm  and  nobleness  of 
purpose — to  strive  for  the  highest  and  best  that  is  attainable  in 
life — that  our  lives  may  be  broadened  and  deepened  and  rounded 
out  into  symmetry  and  beauty  with  all  the  God-given  faculties  they 
possess. 


(400) 


91 


DENTAL  SCIENCE  AND  THE  COMMON  WEAL 


Bernard  J.  Cigrand,  B.S.,  M.S.,  D.D.S. 

Dean  of  the  School  of  Dentistry,  Chicago 

Something  over  one  hundred  years  ago,  while  the  American 
colonies  were  struggling  for  freedom,  a  fleet  of  Frenchmen  came  to 
lend  their  aid  to  an  oppressed  people.  Among  these  compatriots  was 
Joseph  LeMaire,  a  dentist,  who  shortly  became  the  personal  and  pro- 
fessional friend  of  Washington.  In  1781,  while  the  colonial  troops 
were  in  winter  quarters,  LeMaire  obtained  a  commission  from  General 
Washington  to  teach  dentistry  to  those  of  the  army  who  desired  a 
course.  Thus  from  the  hands  of  General  Washington  came  the  order 
"to  teach  dentistry."  This  was  the  beginning  of  the  instructional 
career  of  our  profession  in  America.  About  forty  of  the  soldiers 
availed  themselves,  and  six  became  practitioners.  Today  we  number 
upward  of  fifty  recognized  colleges,  publish  more  than  two  hundred 
dental  periodicals  and  have  a  dental  population  of  twenty-six  thou- 
sand. 

The  art  and  science  of  dentistry  during  the  past  half  century  has 
surpassed  in  progress  that  of  any  other  vocation,  and  today  it  stands 
among  the  learned  professions.  To  this  happy  era  in  our  calling  the 
American  dentist  has  liberally  contributed.  The  glory  of  establishing 
nearlv  all  the  potent  elements  of  dental  progress  is  the  cherished 
record  of  the  American  practitioner. 

It  would  be  foriegn  to  the  purpose  of  my  paper  to  recite  to  you  the 
evolution  of  dental  construction  or  detail  the  processes  relating  to 
dental  technique  or  progress  of  digital  dexterity  as  it  pertains  to  our 
profession ;  hence  I  will  confine  my  remarks  to  dentistry  as  it  pertains 
to  the  people  in  general,  particularly  from  an  American  point  of  view. 

It  might  well  be  said  that  it  is  the  most  exact,  or  demonstrable  of 
professional  callings.  There  is  less  of  the  speculative  and  hence 
it  excludes  the  factor  of  assumption  or  presumption,  since  like 
surgery  it  deals  with  material  and  adds  to  or  displaces  matter,  being 
either  aphasretic  or  prosthetic.  Its  dominion  is  indeed,  apparently 
constricted,  and  does  not  involve  great  human  or  physical  territory, 
but  its  relationships  are  of  so  diverse  and  complicated  a  character  as 
to  involve  parts  and  organs  quite  remote  from  the  lower  third  of  the 
face.  That  our  teeth  depend  largely  upon  our  mental  and  physical 
condition  none  will  at  this  late  period  of  the  nineteenth  century  deny, 
and  that  in  turn  our  mental  and  physical  conditions  are  most  decidedly 
affected  by  the  condition  of  the  dental  organs,  can  be  demonstrated; 
and  in  this  chain  of  dependence  we  recognize  that  all  organs  or  parts 
of  organs  are  influenced  by  the  surrounding  physiological  circum- 
stances, and  these  are  acted  upon  primarily  by  the  food  we  eat,  the 
vocation  we  follow  and  the  climate  we  live  in. 

(401) 


92 

Dentistry  has  contributed  to  the  common  weal  some  of  the  most 
cherished  comforts  of  human  Hfe  and  lent  factors  to  the  development 
and  progress  of  the  human  family.  To  LeMaire  Americans  owe  the 
knowledge  of  implantation  and  transplantation,  the  principle  which 
has  led  to  the  wonderful  physiological  phenomena  of  engrafting  of 
new  tissue.  The  first  anatomical  museum  was  founded  bv  Dr.  Peale, 
also  distinguished  for  having  painted  the  famous  picture  of  Washington. 
To  Miller  we  owe  the  knowledge  of  hundreds  of  forms  of  bacteria.  He 
gave  us  light  on  cell  physiology  and  evolved  the  scientific  etiology  of 
dental  caries.  Dr.  Atkinson  took  the  speechless  child,  and,  after 
restoring  the  cleft  in  the  palate,  taught  the  world  that  where  distortion 
of  features  and  muteness  of  voice  existed,  both  could  be  displaced  by 
beauty  and  eloquence.  To  Dr.  Horace  Wells  we  owe  the  practical 
application  of  nitrous  oxide,  the  finding  of  which  has  done  more  to 
relieve  humanity  of  its  sufferings  than  any  score  of  other  discoveries. 
Humanity  owes  so  much  to  this  dental  genius  that  he  deserves  a 
statue  in  every  center  where  medicine  or  dentistry  is  taught.  Sixty 
years  ago,  October  18,  1845,  Dr.  Morton,  a  dentist  of  Boston,  chemi- 
cally demonstrated  the  sleep-producing  qualities  of  ether,  and  two 
years  later  Dr.  C.  T.  Jackson  gave  us  chloroform.  Dentists  have  since 
produced  five  general  and  fourteen  local  anesthetics. 

Mother  Medicine  fully  recognizes  the  balm  brought  through  these 
agencies  to  the  afflicted  and  distressed.  These  dental  practitioners 
have  made  it  possible  for  your  cosmopolitan  centers  to  possess  the 
beautiful  marble  lined  surgical  amphitheaters  of  today,  and  have  thus 
opened  the  way  to  cranial  and  internal  surgery ;  they  have  taken  from 
the  operating  room  the  hitching  post  and  straps  and  bequeathed  in 
their  stead  "the  vapors  of  sweet  dreams. " 

A  noteworthy  service  of  our  calling  has  been  the  system  of  post- 
mortem identification.  In  criminal  annals  this  form  of  exact  regis- 
tration has  resulted  in  untold  good,  leading  to  the  capture  of  the 
criminal  immediately  after  the  identification  of  the  victim,  for  with- 
out the  latter,  the  former  could  scarcely  be  anticipated.  Again,  in  the 
innumerable  railroad  accidents  and  public  building  calamities,  as  well 
as  steamer  disasters  and  theater  conflagrations,  the  dental  surgeon  is 
indeed  rendering  great  aid  to  the  saddened,  stricken  relatives  and 
friends.  In  the  Iroquois  theater  horror  more  than  three  hundred  dead 
were  given  a  family  burial  because  of  the  dental  record. 

The  first  instance  where  a  body  was  given  dental  identity  resulting 
in  personal  identification  happened  in  this  country  something  less  than 
a  century  ago.  The  great  patriot  and  hero,  Paul  Revere,  devoted 
much  time  to  the  prosthetic  division  of  dentistry.  He  constructed 
metal  base  dentures  and  was  much  interested  in  carving  and  designing 
artificial  teeth.  When  the  remains  of  the  patriot  and  soldier,  General 
Warren,  were  removed  from  Bunker  Hill  battlefield  to  their  present 

(402) 


93 

resting  place,  it  was  Paul  Revere  who  made  the  identification,  recog- 
nizing the  partial  denture  which  he  had  constructed  some  years  pre- 
vious to  the  general's  death,  and  minutely  described  his  remaining 
natural  teeth. 

Those  who  are  making  a  study  of  the  science  of  neurology  are  free 
to  admit  that  dental  lesions  and  oral  disturbances  inaugurate  a  variety 
of  mental  disorders.  Neurotic  disturbances  having  their  origin  in 
dental  irritation  do  not  receive  the  attention  they  merit.  The  dental 
factors  concerned  in  reliex  pains  which  may  be  traced  and  treated 
in  the  mouth  are  surprisingly  numerous.  Recent  investigations 
point  to  the  fact  that  in  our  state  asylums  are  patients  suffering  a 
temporary  dementia  and  various  forms  of  neurasthenia,  who,  in  truth, 
require  only  dental  attention  to  be  relieved.  Physical  exhaustion, 
suspended  consciousness  and  other  morbid  mental  states  are  too  fre- 
quently induced  through  neglected  oral  circumstances.  Why  not  have 
dentists  appointed  in  these  institutions  to  care  for  the  distressed? 
Nor  does  this  disorganized  dental  condition  relate  to  asylums  alone. 
The  penal  institutions  as  well  are  disregarding  the  comforts  which 
dental  science  could  render. 

The  general  surgeons  of  today  are  awakening  to  the  importance  of 
our  professional  services.  In  patients  awaiting  operations  involving 
the  alimentary  system,  the  necessity  for  normal  and  healthy  condi- 
tions in  the  mouth  is  most  essential.  The  most  successful  operation 
would  be  endangered  by  even  the  presence  of  diseased  dental  pulp  and 
should  there  be  an  ulcerated  area  or  suppurating  surface  super- 
induced by  a  distressing  tooth,  the  life  of  the  patient  would  be  threat- 
ened. Hence,  surgeons  who  are  alive  to  these  responsibilities,  before 
performing  these  specified  internal  operations,  do  not  neglect  an 
examination  of  the  oral  cavity;  if  disturbing  tissues  present  themselves 
and  the  operation  can  be  postponed,  the  patient  receives  the  services 
of  the  dental  surgeon,  thus  assuring  every  precautionary  measure.  As 
further  evidence  of  good  to  the  general  public,  I  cite  the  statement  of 
Dr.  Joseph  Kidd  of  London,  an  eminent  English  physician  and 
specialist,  who  attributed  the  cause  of  the  prevalence  of  appendicitis 
to  ill  attention  to  the  teeth  and  indifference  to  the  laws  of  perfect 
mastication.  In  this  view  the  medical  profession  is  offering  some 
hope  and  suggestion  which  is  truly  specific. 

The  morbid  influence  due  to  deranged  digestion  has  attracted 
attention  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic  in  the  form  of  the  recent  book  by 
Arthur  MacDonald,  specialist  in  the  bureau  of  education  at  Washing- 
ton, D.  C.  He  attributes  much  of  our  crime  to  illness  — to  abnormal 
health — and  classes  distressing  and  diseased  oral  parts  as  a  frequent 
cause  for  domestic  crime.  He  calls  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  poor 
in  our  great  cities,  where  crime  so  freely  flourishes,  receive  practically 
no  medical,  surgical  or  dental  aid,  and  the  depressed  and  suffering 

(403)- 


94 

mortals  wear  out  their  physical  and  neural  energies  in  the  great  fight 
against  pain.  The  result  is  that  an  exhausted,  ill  tempered  mind, 
lacking  the  normal  control,  unable  to  carry  the  burdens  of  excruciating 
pain,  frequently  through  perverted  judgment  commits  most  desperate 
crimes.  Fifty  years  ago  such  a  statement  would  have  been  treated 
with  derision.  This  emphasizes  the  necessity  of  greater  care  for  the 
dental  organs  and  augments  the  importance  of  the  science  of  dentistry. 

Why  are  not  the  poor  of  our  great  metropolitan  cities  provided 
with  better  attention  of  the  physician,  surgeon  and  dentist?  These 
people  are  burdens  of  the  body-politic  and  an  ounce  of  prevention 
would  be  better  than  a  pound  of  cure.  Later  we  have  them  at  greater 
expense  as  tenants  of  the  county  hospital,  the  poor  farm,  the  industrial 
institution,  the  asylum  or  the  dispensary.  Would  it  not  be  wiser, 
more  charitable  and  Christianlike  to  provide  at  state  expense,  a 
method  looking  to  the  care  of  the  worthy  poor?  Today  Germany, 
recognizing  the  importance  in  this  direction,  has  in  Strassburg,  Berlin, 
Dresden  and  all  large  cities,  instituted  public  dental  infirmaries, 
where  the  government  appoints  dentists  to  care  for  the  teeth  of  the 
worthy  poor,  the  government  providing  the  institution  with  all 
necessary  instruments,  appliances  and  material.  The  children  of  our 
public  schools  should  have  like  opportunities  and  the  colleges  of 
dentistry  would  gladly,  without  cost,  provide  lecturers  and  clinicians. 

The  government  at  Washington  is  awakening  to  the  welfare  of 
the  soldiers  and  sailors  and  the  common  weal  is  strengthened  because 
of  it.  Congress  will  be  asked  to  pass  a  bill  creating  naval  dental 
officers.  This  would  add  a  group  of  new  and  useful  officers  to  the 
American  navy  in  the  interest  of  comfort,  health  and  efficiency  of  our 
naval  forces.  The  government  should  continue  in  this  humanitarian 
direction.  Last  year  in  a  single  county  in  our  State  eight  hundred 
and  eighteen  infants  died  from  convulsions  during  the  period  of 
dentition.  If  this  same  ratio  prevails  throughout  Illinois,  what 
startling  figures  we  could  count!  And  yet  this  is  but  one  of  the  many 
causes  of  death  directly  traceable  to  oral  and  dental  disorders.  It 
does  seem  that  these  facts,  if  known,  would  appeal  to  our  legislators, 
who  might  appropriate  a  small  sum  for  original  research  in  this  most 
fruitful  and  promising  field. 

Aside  from  this  what  is  being  done  by  the  government  to  encourage 
scientists  to  prosecute  the  study  of  diseases  of  infants?  We  may 
keep  in  mind  the  low  birth  rate  of  France — of  what  avail  is  a  high 
birth  rate  with  an  encroaching  and  increasing  death  rate?  President 
Roosevelt  has  called  attention  to  the  childless  marriage — thanks  for 
his  drastic  criticism — but  he  might  have  gone  into  this  matter  farther 
and  added,  "Save  the  children  that  are  born." 

The  United  States  annually  spends  millions  of  dollars  in  the  de- 
partment of  agriculture  in  the  hope  of  arresting  the  diseases  of  swine, 

(404) 


95 

cattle  and  sheep.  The  government  provides  scientists  with  the  best 
of  lenses  to  discover  and  decipher  bacteria  and  agents  of  destruction 
to  the  animal  and  vegetable  kingdom.  But  the  human  family  is  left  to 
individual  enterprise,  and  disease  hovers  at  every  doorstep  in  the  form 
of  consumption,  dyspepsia  and  pyorrhea,  allowing  a  death  rate  of  a 
most  alarming  figure.  The  government  could  well  afford  to  publish 
fewer  books  on  cattle  and  swine  and  devote  a  portion  of  this  enormous 
sum  to  the  redemption  of  the  citizens'  health. 

If  the  general  public  knew  the  status  of  affairs  as  pertains  to  our 
present  meager  means  for  prosecuting  investigations  into  realms 
of  direct  concern  to  human  life,  if  we  could  impress  the  legislatures 
and  even  influence  the  civic  authorities  with  the  fact  that  public 
funds  shotdd  go  for  public  good,  we  would  have  accomplished  an  in- 
valuable good. 

Let  the  University  of  Illinois,  her  alumni  and  friends  appeal  to  the 
Legislature  for  funds  in  this  direction ;  give  dental  specialists  an  oppor- 
tunity and  the  gain  will  all  accrue  to  the  general  public — the  common 
weal. 


THE  STATE  PHARMACY  LAW 

Frederick  M.  Goodman,  Ph.  G. 
Dean  of  the  School  of  Pharmacy,  Chicago 

It  affords  me  pleasure  on  this  interesting  occasion  to  represent 
the  oldest  department  of  the  State  University — the  School  of  Pharm- 
acy— and  not  only  the  oldest  department  of  the  University  but  the 
oldest  science  in  existence,  save  one.  Men  became  students  of  the 
starry  heavens  before  they  applied  themselves  to  the  study  of  nature's 
products  and  their  application  in  the  treatment  of  disease ;  and  as  the 
preparation  of  each  potion  preceded  its  administration,  so  pharmacy 
antedates  even  the  practice  of  medicine — by  at  least  ten  minutes. 

I  have  no  intention  of  dwelling  upon  the  history  of  the  Asclepiads 
and  their  services  in  the  interests  of  gods  and  men ;  not  upon  that  of 
Hippocrates,  the  "Father  of  Medicine,"  nor  upon  that  of  the  great 
leader  among  pharmacists,  Galen,  whose  father  in  answer  to  a  dream 
made  a  doctor  of  him ;  but  I  will  refer  at  once  to  the  leading  light  in 
pharmacy  established  midway  between  the  Alleghany  and  Rocky 
mountains  in  the  infant  city  of  Chicago  in  1859. 

At  that  time  a  few  active  pharmacists  of  the  city  engaged  to 
establish  a  school  with  the  determination  of  providing  for  the  systemat- 
ic training  of  future  apprentices. 

The  custom  hitherto  prevailing  of  the  applicant,  parent  or  guard- 
ian, paying  one  or  two  hundred  dollars  to  the  employer  in  anticipa- 
tion of  the  trouble  expected  in  properly  instructing  the  novice  was 
just  drawing  to  a  close.     Customs  which  were  handed  down  from  one 

(405) 


96 

generation  to  the  next  and  which  may  have  served  a  useful  purpose, 
were  found  inadequate  under  the  more  active  conditions  of  American 
equality  and  freedom. 

The  employer  being  no  longer  paid  for  training  the  aspirant, 
thought  his  obligations  were  at  an  end,  and  although  he  took  the  boy 
as  an  apprentice,  it  was  merely  to  have  some  one  to  do  the  rougher 
work  at  little  expense.  The  one  engaged  was  usually  a  school  boy  of 
very  limited  advancement,  and  his  engagement,  if  it  did  not  termi- 
nate his  scholastic  work,  was  inclined  at  least  to  limit  his  education 
to  the  narrow  field  of  personal  occupation. 

These  conditions  and  their  possible  consequences  were  duly  con- 
sidered by  those  interested,  and  the  conclusion  was  reached  that  the 
apprentice  must  be  school  taught  to  offset  the  employer's  neglect. 
Application  for  a  charter  was  made,  officers  and  trustees  elected  and 
from  among  the  leading  chemists,  pharmacists  and  botanists,  a 
faculty  was  appointed. 

To  follow  the  vicissitudes  of  the  school  through  war  and  fire  at 
this  moment  might  not  prove  of  general  interest,  but  as  my  knowledge 
of  events  embraces  almost  the  entire  interim,  I  maybe  allowed  to  say, 
that  although  the  school  has  made  ample  provisions  for  the  proper 
technical  training  of  the  apprentice,  changed  conditions  have  con- 
stantly brought  to  the  ranks  the  children  of  poorer  and  less  advanced, 
people,  children  from  grammar  grades  and  private  schools,  whose 
advancement  in  some  instances  is  limited  to  the  barest  and  crudest 
rudiments.  Preliminary  progress  is  now  earnestly  demanded  before 
matriculation. 

Twenty-five  years  ago  members  of  this  school  and  others,  in  order 
to  forestall  these  and  threatening  trade  conditions,  ill-advisedly 
sought  legislation,  self-imposed  legislation,  as  a  remedy  for  growing 
evils.  The  public  never  thought  of  seeking  legislation  to  control  the 
pharmacist.  No  man  ever  stood  higher  in  public  estimation  than  he 
did  and  no  professional  man  ever  enjoyed  a  greater  moiety  of  confi- 
dence than  did  the  old  time  family  druggist ;  and  pharmacists  in  their 
efforts  to  benefit  themselves  have  done  more  toward  destroying  this 
feeling  of  confidence  than  has  any  other  influence  or  all  influences 
combined,  and  today  they  are  openly  charged  with  substitution  and 
adulteration,  and  the  very  word  adulteration  takes  on  a  new  meaning 
when  administered  by  the  officers  of  the  law.  The  law  was  enacted 
and  grumbling  began;  it  has  been  amended  but  dissatisfaction  con- 
tinues; the  results  are  not  what  was  anticipated  by  its  authors  and 
the  I-told-you-so  man  has  had  a  very  long  inning. 

The  pharmacy  law  has  cost  the  profession  one  hundred  and  eighty 
thousand  dollars  and  the  rank  and  file  is  not  so  good  today  as  it  was 
twenty-five  to  forty  years  ago.  Schools  of  pharmacy  do  not  refuse  mat- 
riculation to  the  illiterate ;  but  having  accepted  them,  refuse  to  gradu- 

(406) 


97 

ate  them  when  they  succeed  in  answering  the  examination  questions. 
Some  backward  students  have  served  four  years  in  this  school  before 
being  granted  a  diploma,  but  most  frequently  when  a  student  finds 
himself  falling  behind  he  leaves  for  some  other  school. 

This  school,  which  was  the  outgrowth  of  the  times,  has  during  its 
existence  introduced  some  of  the  farthest  reaching  and  most  lasting 
innovations  in  pharmacal  teaching  and  in  order  to  raise  the  standard 
to  the  anticipated  and  long  wished  for  degree,  the  former  members 
sought  admission  as  a  department  of  this  great  University,  the  aims 
and  advancement  of  which  they  were  all  familiar  with. 

Today  we  set  another  mile  post  in  the  Universitv  history,  and 
today  every  member  of  the  old  Chicago  College  of  Pharmacy  is  looking 
toward  the  new  President  with  a  full  realization  of  his  strength  and 
determination  and  unbounded  confidence  in  his  learning,  experience 
and  capacity.  We  are  hoping  through  him  to  have  this  school  justly 
recognized  by  the  people  as  the  State  School  of  Pharmacy,  a  part  of 
the  great  educational  institution  founded  and  supported  by  them; 
and  pharmacists  throughout  the  State,  from  Wisconsin  to  Egypt,  un- 
less they  are  perfectly  satisfied  to  continue  their  efforts  to  fill  the 
ravenous  maw  of  the  State  law,  and  this  without  benefit  to  themselves, 
must,  as  their  only  salvation,  insist  upon  the  recognition  of  this  as 
the  State  School  and  the  one  through  which  that  part  of  the  State 
law  relating  to  educational  attainment  must  be  enforced. 

The  law  is  supposed  to  afford  the  means  of  testing  the  qualifications 
of  all  who  desire  to  practice  pharmacy  and  determine  their  eligibility 
to  public  confidence,  and  to  this  end  the  Faculty  of  the  State  School, 
a  Faculty  accustomed  to  conducting  examinations,  should  do  the 
work  and  submit  the  results  to  the  State  board.  The  diploma  of 
the  State  School  should  be  accepted  by  the  State  board  as  satisfactory 
evidence  of  knowledge,  while  all  other  applicants  should  be  com- 
pelled to  pass  an  examination  by  the  same  Faculty ;  and  no  man  who 
has  the  least  real  interest  in  the  progress  of  pharmacy  or  in  State 
advancement  will  for  a  moment  object  to  the  matter  being  entirely 
under  the  control  of  the  State  Institution  of  learning. 

Under  these  suggested  conditions  the  standard  could  be  raised  in 
conformity  with  the  intention,  desire  and  hope  of  those  who  earnestly 
sought  the  passage  of  the  pharmacy  law.  As  it  now  stands,  students 
in  the  midst  of  their  school  work  appear  before  the  board  for  examina- 
tion and  if  successful,  give  up  their  class  work  entirely;  hence,  their 
success  in  these  examinations  is  frequently  the  premium  placed  on 
ignorance. 

In  some  states  a  modicum  of  pharmacal  learning  is  not  alone 
demanded  but  certain  advancement  in  grade  school  work  insisted 
upon  as  a  prerequisite  to  matriculation  and  steps  are  being  taken  at 
the   present   time  to   make   the   requirements  uniform   through   the 

(407) 


98 

states.  Some,  however,  contend  that  this  is  an  "abridgment  of  one's 
rights,"  but  if  a  state  can  lawfully  demand  it,  I  think  it  ought  to  be 
in  a  position  to  supply  any  deficiency  which  may  exist,  and  this  can 
most  properly  be  done  in  the  public  school,  preparatory  school  or 
state  university. 

If  public  education  is  worthy  of  support,  if  the  university  is  the 
crown  of  the  public  school  system,  if  free  education  is  the  people's 
inheritance,  if  the  nation  is  but  the  reflection  of  the  individual,  then 
miserably  small  and  unpatriotic  is  the  one  who  will  stand  in  the  way 
of  others  who  are  endeavoring  to  protect  the  people  from  a  horde  of 
incompetents  and  who  are  trying  to  raise  the  educational  standard. 

In  conclusion,  believing  that  the  very  fact  that  we  submit  to  an 
annual  assessment  for  the  purpose  of  raising  funds  for  our  own  sur- 
veillance and  punishment  is  belittling  and  derogatory  to  professional 
dignity  and  a  condition  not  tolerated  by  the  medical  profession,  I 
would  most  earnestly  urge  the  members  of  the  State  association, 
through  the  association,  to  demand  free  reregistration,  and  I  would 
call  upon  every  pharmacist  and  assistant  in  the  State  to  write  to  the 
senator  and  representatives  from  his  district  insisting  upon  the  repeal 
of  that  part  of  the  pharmacal  law  relating  to  the  reregistration  fee 
and  demanding  free  reregistration  as  physicians  enjoy.  The  future 
progress  of  pharmacy  depends  upon  our  bettering  ourselves. 


EVOLUTION  OF  SURGERY 
John  B.  Murphy,  A.M.,  M.D. 

To  the  Committee  of  Arrangements  I  wish  to  express  my  sincere 
appreciation  of  the  honor  and  privilege  of  appearing  before  you  in  the 
installation  exercises  of  President  Edmund  J.  James.  An  analysis  of 
surgical  events  from  the  earliest  dawn  of  history  is  interesting  as  an 
evolutionary  study.  It  will  be  seen  that  all  peoples,  even  though 
widely  separated,  progressed  on  the  same  intellectual  lines.  It  will 
also  be  noted  that  after  a  great  advancement  or  stride  forward,  there 
was  a  stay  of  progress  for  a  long  period  of  time.  When  we  behold  the 
Temple  of  Medicine — grand,  as  we  call  it — we  can  see  in  the  analysis 
of  its  structure,  that  it  is  a  mosaic  of  extremely  minute  particles,  and 
still  a  great  part  of  an  incomplete  whole.  We  are  expected  then  to 
contribute  only  small  frames  to  this  mosaic.  That  the  medical  de- 
partment of  this  University  under  its  new  and  masterful  leadership 
will  continue  to  contribute  its  units  of  advancement  is  an  assured  fact, 
both  from  the  history  of  its  own  inherent  intellectual  strength,  and 
from  the  past  achievements  of  the  President  who  is  to  control  its 
destinies. 

A  picture  of  the  history  of  the  evolution  of  medicine  and  surgery 
necessarily  implies  a  picture  of  the  development  and  evolution  of  the 

(408) 


99 

world.  The  progress  of  science,  and  especially  that  of  medicine  has 
been  closely  connected  with  social  events  throughout  the  centuries. 
Religion,  social  prosperity  or  poverty,  various  phases  of  civilization, 
wars  and  many  other  features  are  in  close  touch  with  the  intellectual 
trend  of  the  times,  and -have  left  their  marks  on  the  various  stages  in 
the  evolution  of  medicine  and  surgery.  It  is  difficult  even  to  give  a 
correct  and  complete  skeleton  of  the  evolution  of  surgery  in  the  limited 
time  allowed.  The  journey  is  long;  it  covers  a  period  of  five  thousand 
years.  The  historian  encoimters  great  obstacles;  he  has  to  span 
valleys  of  historic  and  even  traditional  omissions,  and  when  history 
becomes  more  positive,  medical  facts  are  difficult  of  acquirement. 
The  beginning  of  surgery  dates  back  to  mythological  times.  The  first 
surgical  attempts  were  probably  aid  in  labor  and  arrest  of  hemorrhage. 
The  instinct  of  individual  preservation  compelled  the  first  man  to  use 
primitive  weapons  against  wild  animals  and  also  means  of  protection 
against  climatic  inclemencies.  This  is  the  origin  of  empirical  hygiene. 
Sktills  of  prehistoric  periods  show  evidence  of  trephining.  Absence 
of  documents  of  prehistoric  and  mythological  times  makes  it  impossible 
for  the  eye  of  the  historian  to  penetrate  the  darkness  of  those  ages.  I 
shall  therefore  commence  with  the  Egyptians,  whose  history  is  best 
known  of  all  ancient  nations.  The  subdivisions  of  general  history 
mav  be  utilized  for  that  of  the  history  of  medicine  and  surgery,  as 
follows : 

1.  Ancient,  ending  with  the  fall  of  the  Western  Roman  Empire, 
A.  D.  476. 

2.  Medieval  (Dark  Ages)  from  the  sixth  to  the  end  of  the  fif- 
teenth century. 

3.  Modem,  commencing  with  the  Renaissance. 

I  shall  divide  this  latter  period  into  (1)  Period  of  Cellular  Path- 
olog}^;  (2)  Pre-Pasteurian ;  (3)  Post-Pasteurian.  Virchow  represents 
that  of  cellular  pathology  and  Pasteur  the  border  line  between  the 
older  and  modern  surgery. 

First  among  the  ancients  we  will  consider  the  Egyptians.  The 
historv  of  this  wonderful  nation  is  open :  thanks  to  modern  scientists 
we  are  able  to  imderstand  the  mysteries  of  hieroglyphics.  Egyptian 
temples,  monuments,  obelisks,  pyramids  and  like  remains  tell  us 
that  medicine  and  surgery  have  been  practiced  in  Egypt.  Larrey  has 
seen  on  the  walls  of  Egv- ptian  temples  drawings  of  instruments  similar 
to  ours  and  representations  of  amputated  members.  Some  of  the 
characters  of  the  hieroglyphic  writings  are  surgical  instruments. 
Egvptians  exposed  their  sick  in  public  places  so  that  some  who  had 
suffered  from  a  similar  disease  might  tell  the  sick  what  remedy  they 
had  used.  Former  sufferers  were  also  required  to  inscribe  on  the  walls 
of  temples  both  symptoms  and  treatment.  The  collection  of  these 
symptons  was  classified  by  priests  and  formed  the  Egyptian  medical 

(409) 


100 

code,  the  "secret  book,"  the  origin  of  empirical  medicine.  Informa- 
tion obtained  from  Egyptian  monuments  is  greatly  augmented  by 
that  given  in  the  Papyrus  Ebers,  the  most  important  of  all  medical 
writings  of  antiquity.  The  papyrus  was  written  3000  B.  C.  in  the 
time  of  King  Re-Seo-Ka  (Amenophis  I).  It  was  found  in  Memphis 
and  is  at  present  in  Berlin.  The  Egyptian  conception  of  disease  was 
that  the  latter  was  due  to  the  anger  of  some  deity,  especially  that  of 
Isis,  there  being  always  a  struggle  between  good  and  bad,  right  and 
wrong,  and  the  triumph  of  the  latter  resulted  in  disease.  Medicine 
was  professed  by  priests  and  the  laity.  At  all  times  the  influence  of 
religion  was  the  characteristic  note  of  Egyptian  medicine.  The 
Egyptians  were  first  physicians  and  then  surgeons.  The  former  were 
very  familiar  with  the  various  medications.  The  diseases  best  under- 
stood were  those  of  the  eye,  in  which  they  used  both  medical  and 
surgical  treatment.  The  Egyptians  were  affected  with  dreadful 
ophthalmias;  even  today  ophthalmic  diseases  predominate.  Several 
mummies  were  found  with  artificial  teeth,  which  shows  that  dentistry 
was  practiced  in  those  times.  The  mummies  also  show  the  most 
wonderful  bandaging,  and  no  one  today  could  excel  them  in  this 
particular  art.  Egyptian  embalming  was  perfect.  It  was  a  general 
practice,  yet  the  people  at  large  had  a  prejudice  against  embalmers, 
and  not  infrequently  were  they  exposed  to  stoning.  That  they  had 
any  anatomical  knowledge  is  doubtful.  The  apogee  of  Egyptian 
medicine  was  reached  in  the  Alexandrian  period.  Among  the  four 
hundred  thousand  volumes  of  the  Alexandrian  library  many  works 
were  probably  medical.  The  Alexandrian  Museum,  founded  by 
Ptolemy  Philadelphus  had  four  departments;  literature,  mathematics, 
astronomy  and  medicine.  An  Egyptian  doctor  treated  only  one  or 
two  diseases,  which  shows  that  the  greatest  specialization  prevailed  in 
those  times.  The  Greek  historian,  Herodotus,  surprised  b}^  the  great 
number  of  physicians  in  Egypt,  states  that  he  gained  the  impression 
that  nearly  all  of  the  Egyptians  were  physicians,  and  that  one  who 
was  afflicted  with  several  symptons  had  to  consult  several  physicians. 
Egyptian  medicine  sank  into  obscurity  in  the  time  of  the  Ptolemies 
and  gave  place  to  Hellenic  medicine. 

Among  the  Hebrews  until  1000  B.  C.  (Kingdom  of  Solomon) 
surgery  was  greatly  neglected.  Mosaic  writings  contained  mostly 
dietetic  prescriptions.  They  also  recommend  cleanliness,  which  is 
the  essence  of  Mosaic  religion,  and  hygiene.  They  knew  something 
of  embalming,  which  in  all  probability  was  learned  from  the  Egypt- 
ians. On  the  death  of  Jacob,  Joseph  ordered  his  servants  to  embalm 
the  body  of  his  father.  The  chief  surgical  attempt  was  circumcision, 
which  was  performed  with  .Ethiopian  stones.  Moses  taught  the 
people  how  to  protect  themselves  from  leprosy  and  other  skin  erup- 
tions,   one    of   them   being   similar   in    description    to    syphilis.     The 

(410) 


101 

originality  of  Mosaic  medicine  was  practically  gone  when  they  came 
in  contact  with  the  Syrians  and  Persians.  The  influence  of  the  latter 
is  reflected  in  the  Talmud.  In  later  times  the  Mosaic  intermingled 
with  the  Arabic. 

Little  or  nothing  is  known  of  Chinese  medicine.  The  Chinese  were 
exclusionists  from  the  most  ancient  times,  and  a  foreigner  could  not 
penetrate  their  social  life. 

The  Hindus  had  a  knowledge  of  both  medicine  and  surgery.  An 
English  writer  shows  that  surgical  instruments  were  used  in  India 
before  the  advent  of  Alexander.  They  were  more  numerous  than 
those  used  today  in  England.  He  also  states  that  one  hundred  3^ears 
before  the  Christian  era  the  Hindus  performed  just  as  good  operations 
as  those  performed  today  in  Great  Britian.  At  that  epoch  Susruta 
showed  that  surgery  was  the  first  and  highest  of  the  healing  arts  and 
the  least  liable  to  fallacy,  that  it  was  pure  in  itself,  unapproachable  in 
its  applicability,  a  worthy  product  of  heaven,  and  a  sure  source  of 
fame  on  earth.  Hindu  medicine  is  included  in  the  writing  Vagadas- 
astir.  Their  conception  of  disease,  as  that  of  all  Asiatic  people,  is  the 
continual  struggle  between  good  and  bad,  right  and  wrong,  the  defeat 
of  the  former  resulting  in  the  disease.  Some  of  their  medical  philoso- 
phers conceived  the  idea  that  disease  is  the  result  of  a  conflict  between 
the  gases  which  circulate  in  the  vessels  of  the  body.  Hindu  surgery 
may  be  divided  into  Pre-Brahmanic  or  the  Pre-Buddhistic  period, 
which  is  influenced  principally  by  superstition,  and  Post-Brahmanic, 
which  is  the  epoch  of  philosophy.  Surgery  flourished  in  the  latter 
period.  The  "Charaka  Club"  of  New  York  has  for  its  object  the 
study  of  Hindu  surgery.  In  their  wars  military  surgeons  accom- 
panied the  armies  to  the  battle  field.  The  greatest  skill  in  ancient 
surgery  was  displayed  in  the  operation  of  rhinoplasty.  It  is  also  said 
that  the  Hindus  later  performed  laparotomies.  The  Hindus  possessed 
a  marvelous  ointment  which  made  the  scars  of  variola  disappear. 
They  also  treated  successfully  bites  of  venomous  serpents. 

According  to  some  historians  in  the  Homeric  period  there  is  no 
evidence  of  the  practice  of  medicine  or  surgery  among  the  Greeks. 
Others,  however,  state  that  in  that  period  the  Greeks  had  surgeons 
readv  to  treat  emergencies  and  to  control  hemorrhage  by  styptic 
powders.  Esculapius,  the  founder  of  Greek  medicine,  accompanied 
Castor  and  Pollux  as  surgeon  during  the  Argonautic  expedition.  He 
was  greatly  honored  in  his  time,  and  after  his  death  temples  were 
erected  in  his  honor  and  sacrifices  made.  Pluto,  god  of  hell,  entered  a 
protest  to  Jupiter  during  the  practice  of  Esculapius,  stating  that  his 
daily  host  of  dead  was  considerably  diminished.  This  illustrates  the 
wonderful  power  Esculapius  had  to  diminish  diseases.  After  his 
death  the  practice  of  medicine  was  exclusively  in  the  hands  of  priests 
and  some  teaching  was  done  in  temples.     In  the  period  before  Hip- 

(411) 


102 

pocrates,  disease  was  considered  the  result  of  the  anger  of  some  of- 
fended god,  especially  in  the  case  of  plagues  and  epidemics.  From 
the  Illiad  and  the  Odyssey  we  learn  that  Apollo  was  responsible  for 
the  death  of  men  and  Diana  for  that  of  women.  These  principles 
were  inimical  to  the  enforcement  of  sanitary  laws.  The  Greeks' 
desire  for  physical  perfection  was  of  greater  value  than  the  knowledge 
of  medicine  or  surgery.  They  knew  the  art  of  beautifying  their 
persons.  Greek  legislators  made  laws  to  promote  health.  It  is  known 
to  all  of  us  that  the  Greek  legislator  Lycurgus  ordered  that  all  feeble 
and  crippled  children  should  be  killed  by  throwing  them  into  a  valley. 
This  was  sometimes  done  by  the  children's  parents.  The  most  im- 
portant personage  of  medicine  in  Greece,  in  fact  of  all  ancient  nations, 
was  Hippocrates.  He  was  bom  on  the  island  of  Kos  between  446  and 
450  B.  C.  and  died  370  B.  C.  in  Larissa  (Thessaly).  He  lived  in  the 
glorious  age  of  Pericles,  and  was  contemporary  to  Socrates.  Many  of 
his  ancestors  devoted  their  lives  to  medicine.  He  traced  his  ancestors 
to  Esculapius  and  Hercules.  The  conception  of  disease  that  prevailed 
during  the  Pre-Hippocratic  period  was  destroyed  by  the  Hippocratic 
conception.  Hippocrates  was  the  founder  of  humoral  pathology 
which  included  four  humors — blood,  mucous,  black  and  yellow  bile. 
Anv  change  in  these  four  humors  was  the  cause  of  disease.  The  funda- 
mental principle  of  his  therapeutics  was  to  help  and  not  to  damage. 
Until  Hippocrates  there  were  no  clinicians.  Most  of  the  doctors  were 
therapeutists.  Hippocrates  was  the  greatest  clinician  of  all  times. 
From  him  we  have  today  Hippocratic  fingers  in  chronic  chest  diseases 
and  the  Hippocratic  face.  No  clinician  has  ever  excelled  his  description 
of  the  face  of  the  dying.  The  school  of  Hippocrates  found  a  rival  in 
the  school  of  Cnidos  (Knidos).  While  the  latter  was  treating  symp- 
tons,  and  principally  by  drastic  measures,  Hippocrates  endeavored  to 
modify  the  humors,  and  in  this  way  induce  a  cure.  In  the  time  of 
Constantine,  the  school  of  Cnidos,  together  with  many  pagan  institu- 
tions, disappeared.  The  followers  of  Hippocrates  were  dogmatics. 
They  endeavored  to  establish  the  basis  of  a  theoretical  svstem  of 
medicine.  The  greatest  hindrance  to  the  serious  advancement  of 
surgery  was  due  to  ignorance  of  anatomy,  which  is  explained  by  the 
respect  of  the  Greeks  for  their  dead. 

It  is  proper  to  speak  of  the  medicine  of  Rome  and  not  of  the 
Romans,  because  the  entire  Roman  knowledge  was  centralized  in 
Rome.  In  the  times  preceding  the  Republic  medicine  and  especially 
surgery  were  entirely  neglected.  The  traces  of  systematic  medicine 
appear  at  the  end  of  the  Republic.  There  were  men  employed  by  the 
city  who  had  the  responsibility  of  the  city's  hygiene.  Circuses  and 
theaters  employed  medical  inspectors.  Cato  in  his  writings  teaches 
the  people  how  to  care  for  themselves  and  their  animals  in  disease. 
At  that  time  the  Romans  had  great  respect  for  the  physician  (vulner- 

(412) 


103 

arius)  while  the  surgeon  (camifex)  was  despised.  There  was  no 
originahty  in  Roman  medicine  or  surgery.  The  Greeks  taught  the 
Romans  in  all  branches  of  knowledge,  especially  of  medicine.  Among 
the  most  brilliant  doctors  in  Rome  was  Asklepias  of  Bithynia  (124 
B.  C).  Based  on  the  atomic  theories  of  Epicure  he  conceived  disease 
as  the  result  of  the  mutations  of  the  atomic  or  solid  elements  of  the 
body.  His  solid  pathology  is  opposed  to  the  humoral  theory  of 
Hippocrates.  His  followers,  the  Methodics,  explained  the  origin  of 
disease  by  the  properties  of  the  tissues  to  expand  and  contract,  which 
was  practically  a  variation  of  the  atomic  theory.  The  Methodics  also 
conceived  the  sympathies  between  organs.  In  the  reign  of  the  first 
Roman  emperors  there  was  an  influx  of  Greek  doctors  from  Asia 
Minor  who  laid  the  foundations  of  its  various  schools.  Athenaeus 
was  the  founder  of  the  Pneumatic  school,  pneuma  (air)  being  the 
cause  of  diseases.  The  misunderstandings  between  the  Pneumatic 
and  Methodic  schools  gave  birth  to  a  new  school,  the  Eclectic. 

Galen,  who  lived  one  hundred  and  thirty  years  after  Christ,  was 
one  of  the  greatest  ancient  anatomists!  He  was  a  man  of  principles 
and  a  true  scientist.  He  studied  anatomy  and  physiology.  He 
dissected  many  animals,  especiallv  monkevs.  He  applied  the  anat- 
omy of  the  latter  to  man.  In  other  words,  he  was  the  pioneer  of 
comparative  anatomy.  He  was  familiar  with  the  anatomy  of  the 
heart  and  the  distribvition  of  arteries.  He  knew  that  the  left  heart 
contained  blood.  The  presumption  is  that  he  was  familiar  with  the 
circulation.  Medicine  after  Galen  ceases  to  be  original  and  the 
influence  of  physicians  from  Pergamus  was  strongly  felt.  The  prac- 
tice of  medicine  was  not  controlled  by  laws  in  Rome.  To  a  great 
extent  medicine  was  practiced  by  slaves,  either  natives  of  Rome  or 
imported  from  Asia  Minor.  They  served  as  physicians  and  surgeons 
to  their  masters  and  accompanied  them  in  their  travels  and  wars. 
Specialization  w^as  also  characteristic  of  Rome.  There  were  oculists, 
aurists,  gynecologists,  etc.  Military  surgery  was  first  organized  in 
the  time  of  Roman  emperors  of  the  Western  Empire  and  reached  the 
apogee  under  the  emperors  of  the  Eastern  Empire.  An  appreciation 
of  Roman  surgery  can  be  obtained  by  a  visit  to  the  halls  of  the  Museum 
of  Naples.  Many  and  perfect  instruments  recovered  from  the  ruins 
of  Pompeii  are  exhibited  there,  and  instruments  are  our  best  historical 
guides  to  the  degree  of  the  civilization  of  the  respective  period. 

Like  the  Romans,  the  Arabians  were  not  original.  However,  they 
deserve  the  credit  of  having  studied  Egyptian  and  Greek  medicine, 
which  they  transmitted  to  several  European  nations.  The  accusation 
that  the  Arabians  destroyed  the  i\lexandrian  library  for  the  purpose 
of  heating  their  baths  is  very  unjust.  On  the  contrary,  from  several 
sources  we  learn  that  manv  works  from  the  Alexandrian  library  were 
rescued   or   saved   from   destruction   by   the   Arabians.     There   were 

(413) 


104 

great  mathematicians,  philosophers  and  doctors  among  them.  Medi- 
cine, however,  was  alway  superior  to  surgery,  which  can  easily  be 
explained  by  the  Oriental  conception  of  fatalism.  In  the  Middle 
Ages  the  Arabians  of  Bagdad  and  Cordova  professed  and  transmitted 
knowledge  of  medicine  throughout  southern  Europe. 

The  history  of  surgery  in  the  Middle  Ages  is  very  obscure.  We 
should  not  regret  the  absence  of  definite  information  concerning  those 
times,  because  it  is  not  worthy  of  record.  However,  for  a  clear  under- 
standing of  whatever  is  known,  w^e  must  divide  the  first  three  centuries 
into  Oriental  and  Occidental.  The  Oriental  world  was  familiar  with 
the  Greek  language  and  consequently  had  access  to  the  master  works 
of  Greek  medical  writings.  The  Occidental  world  was  ignorant  of 
the  great  antiquity.  Medicine  in  the  Occident  was  practiced  by 
monks,  priests  or  uneducated  barbers.  The  barber  shop  was  the 
school,  laboratory  and  library  of  the  mediaeval  doctor.  In  the  first 
half  of  the  Middle  Ages  monks  were  uneducated,  and  superstition  and 
ignorance  were  the  characteristics  of  the  medicine  they  professed. 
Superstition  and  supernatural  belief  was  always  a  hindrance  to  the 
progress  of  medicine ;  however,  many  Christian  institutions  cared  for 
the  sick  in  asylums  and  hospitals.  No  matter  how  ignorant  and  super- 
stitious the  monks  and  priests  were  in  those  times,  they  were  by  far 
superior  to  barbers  and  bathers.  The  former  practiced  medicine  only, 
since  they  were  prohibited  from  using  the  knife  and  drawing  blood  from 
patients.  The  practice  of  medicine  among  monks  and  priests  was 
restricted  by  an  edict  issued  by  Pope  Calistus  II,  who  forbade  priests 
and  monks  to  practice  medicine.  Several  other  popes  were  com- 
pelled to  issue  edicts  in  which  it  was  stated  that  the  duties  of  a  clergy- 
man must  be  purely  ecclesiastic.  The  only  place  where  systematic 
knowledge  could  be  obtained  during  the  first  half  of  the  Middle  Ages, 
was  the  school  of  Salerno.  The  school  was  founded  in  the  Italian 
town,  Salerno,  between  the  seventh  and  eighth  century.  They  had 
distinguished  physicians  among  their  teachers,  and  many  travelers 
availed  themselves  of  the  opportunities  offered  by  the  school.  The 
teachings  of  the  school  of  Salerno  are  included  in  the  "Compendium 
Salernitanum. "  Their  knowledge  of  surgery,  especially  military 
surgery,  was  strengthened  during  the  last  Crusades. 

The  fame  of  the  school  reached  its  climax  between  the  twelfth  and 
thirteenth  centuries.  With  the  creation  of  new  universities  in  Italy 
the  fame  of  the  school  greatly  diminished  and  it  soon  disappeared. 
Frederick  II  compelled  his  Neapolitan  subjects  to  study  medicine  in 
another  university  than  Naples.  The  school  of  Montpelier,  founded  in 
the  twelfth  century,  succeeded  in  fame  the  school  of  Salerno.  De- 
spite all  of  these  efforts,  the  ten  centuries  of  the  Middle  Ages  have  not 
advanced  ancient  knowledge  of  medicine,  and  stand  like  a  sad  valley 
between  two  solid  rocks,  the  ancient  and  modern  world.      Frederick 

(414) 


105 

the  Great,  when  reflecting  upon  the  Middle  Ages  expressed  himself  as 
follows:  "From  Constantine  the  Great,  327  B.  C,  until  the  Reforma- 
tion, the  whole  world  must  have  been  insane." 

Until  the  thirteenth  century  most  of  the  writers  of  medicine  were 
Italians  and  their  writings  passed  the  Pyrenees  and  spread  throughout 
France.  French  writers  soon  excelled  Italian  writers.  In  northern 
Europe,  and  especially  in  the  countries  of  the  Germanic  tongue,  the 
situation  was  deplorable.  The  few  universities  in  existence  refused 
to  incorporate  medicine  among  their  branches. 

The  greatest  achievement  in  intellectual  evolution  of  all  the  cen- 
turies is  the  invention  of  printing,  which  is  the  most  wonderful  gift 
ever  offered  to  humanity.  Faust,  Schaeffer  and  Gutenberg  deserve 
the  honor  of  the  invention.  Printing  prepared  the  Renaissance, 
which  is  the  revival  of  learning.  The  Renaissance  resurrected 
Hellenic  classicism;  it  has  destroyed  the  ignorance  that  prevailed  and 
demolished  the  heavy  walls  within  which  were  imprisoned  science  and 
thought.  The  conquest  of  Constantinople  bv  the  Turks  in  1453  drove 
out  from  the  Orient  to  Italy  many  Christians  who  brought  with  them 
Greek  writings. 

The  Reformation  at  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century  raised 
the  intellectual  standard  of  religious  institutions,  which  indirectly 
helped  the  progress  of  science.  The  many  wars  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury necessitated  surgical  aid;  surgeons  regularly  accompanied  the 
armies  to  the  battle  field.  One  of  the  most  illustrious  military  sur- 
geons was  Ambroise  Pare.  He  was  originally  a  barber,  but  his 
natural  vocation  was  so  great  that  he  soon  became  famous  as  a  sur- 
geon. Up  to  the  time  of  Ambroise  Pare  the  wounds  of  soldiers  were 
filled  with  boiling  oil  (200°),  and  he  for  a  time  applied  this  remedy. 
In  one  campaign  he  failed  to  obtain  the  necessary  oil  for  the  treatment 
of  wounds  and  was  greatlv  embarrassed  by  this  misfortune ;  he  was 
very  restless  and  could  not  sleep  for  two  nights.  To  his  great  surprise 
he  found  the  wounds  of  soldiers  on  the  third  dav  in  a  better  condition 
than  when  oil  was  used.  The  great  inflammation  caused  by  the  hot 
oil  was  not  present.  This  event  enlightened  and  induced  Pare  to 
change  his  conception  and  treatment  of  wounds.  In  the  battle  of 
Piedmont,  1536,  he  refused  to  make  use  of  the  hot  iron  for  the  arrest 
of  hemorrhage,  preferring  the  ligature  for  the  bleeding  vessels. 

The  sixteenth  century  developed  great  interest  in  anatomy.  The 
name  of  Andreas  Vesalius  (1516)  is  closely  connected  with  the  progress 
of  anatomy  in  this  century.  He  showed  that  the  anatomy  of  the 
monkey  cannot  identically  be  applied  to  that  of  man,  and  that  in  this 
regard  Galenus  was  wTong.  Eustachius,  Fallopius  Fabricius  and 
Aquapendente  were  distinguished  anatomists  of  this  period.  The 
last  named  built  an  anatomical  amphitheater  at  his  own  expense, 
where  he  taught  anatomy  to  the  students,  and  made  a  careful  study 

(415) 


106 

of  the  valves  of  the  heart.  After  fifteen  years  of  research  he  pub- 
lished his  work  on  circulation,  but  like  many  of  the  great  discoverers, 
he  was  ridiculed  and  considered  demented  by  many.  Before  he  died, 
however,  he  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  his  theory  universally 
accepted. 

Of  great  moment  in  the  seventeenth  century  was  the  discovery  of 
circulation  of  the  blood  by  WilHam  Harvey  (1628);  which  enabled 
Marcello  Malpighi  to  elucidate  capillary  circulation.  Harvey  also 
deserves  credit  for  the  establishment  of  the  basis  of  embryology  by 
his  dictum:  "Omne  vivum  ex  ovo. "  In  this  century  the  lacteals 
and  thoracic  duct  were  carefully  described,  so  that  the  lymphatic 
circulation  was  well  known  about  the  same  time  with  blood  circulation. 

Microscopic  and  pathologic  anatomy  were  considered  in  this  cen- 
tury, and  the  names  of  Malpighi,  Lowenhoeck,  Morgagni  are  closely 
connected  with  these  sciences.  In  this  century  amphitheaters,  hos- 
pitals and  schools  were  systematically  established.  In  1660  the  cor- 
poration of  the  St.  Come  was  established,  and  medical  consultations, 
lectures  and  dissections  were  given  in  a  little  house,  which  two  years 
later  had  the  sign  "Amphitheater  for  Rent.  "  Physics  and  chemistry 
were  considered  in  this  century  as  a  new  basis  for  therapeutic  pur- 
poses. "  latrophysics  and  chemiatrices "  originated  in  this  century. 
The  Hippocratic  clinical  observation  was  revived,  and  for  the  first 
time  monographs  were  published  on  special  diseases.  In  the  eigh- 
teenth century  the  practice  of  medicine  was  in  hands  of  the  barbers 
almost  exclusively;  their  moral  and  intellectual  standing  was  greatly 
raised  by  the  systematic  teachings  of  medicine  in  universities,  and 
also  by  the  foundation  of  institutions  for  the  teaching  of  military 
surgery.  Of  great  importance  to  the  progress  of  surgery  was  the 
foundation  of  the  Academy  of  Surgery  by  Mareshal  in  Paris,  1731. 
Its  influe'nce  was  felt  not  only  in  France  but  throughout  Europe. 
Seven  years  after  the  foundation  of  the  Academy  of  Surgery,  it  incor- 
porated the  "Ecole  Pratique  de  Chirurgie,"  with  Chopart  as  its  first 
teacher.  In  1780  Joseph's  Academy  in  Austria  was  established,  and 
in  1795  Frederick  Wilhelm's  Institute  was  founded  in  Berlin.  Soon 
afterward  all  of  the  European  countries  added  to  their  universities 
departments  of  medicine  (University  of  Breslau,  1702;  Bonn,  1771; 
Gottingen,  1751).  John  Hunter,  the  great  anatomist  and  surgeon, 
founder  of  the  famous  Hunterian  Museum,  is  considered  the  father  of 
experimental  pathology  in  England.  The  empirico-materialistic 
philosophy  of  the  eighteenth  century  developed  the  natural  and  allied 
sciences  which  considerably  helped  the  practice  of  surgery.  In  the 
second  half  of  the  eighteenth  century  several  schools  disputed  their 
superiority,  as  for  instance,  the  nervosistic  and  vitalistic  schools. 
Mesmer  was  the  exponent  of  animal  magnetism  or  "mesmerism." 
There  is,  according  to  his  school,  a  close  relationship  between  planets 

(416) 


107 

and  disease.  It  advocated  treatment  by  magnets.  The  Indian 
Vedas  informs  us  that  the  Hindus  rubbed  into  the  arms  of  their 
children  the  pus  obtained  from  smallpox  vesicles,  secured  a  year 
before;  the  area  so  treated  was  covered  with  cotton  saturated  with 
sacred  water  from  the  Ganges.  In  the  tenth  century  B.  C.  it  was 
customarv  in  China  to  introduce  cotton  saturated  with  pus  of  variola 
into  the  nostrils  of  children.  John  Brown  was  the  originator  of  the 
theorv  that  disease  is  due  to  alterations  in  the  intensity  of  irritations. 
Another  important  event  is  the  discovery  of  vaccination  by  Jenner  in 
1796;  this  was  the  prime  recognition  of  immunity  and  arrived  at  in 
an  empirical  wav.  He  did  not  realize  the  colossal  significance  of  his 
discoverv,  as  it  is  the  basis  of  the  highest  ideal  of  therapeutics  and  pre- 
ventive medicine  in  the  enlightenment  of  the  first  decade  of  the 
twentieth  centurv.  Notwithstanding  our  boasted  intellectual  devel- 
opment in  the  last  century,  it  required  one  hundred  years  for  this 
truth  to  become  grounded  and  bear  its  legitimate  fruit.  Toward  the 
end  of  the  eighteenth  century  the  progress  of  medical  institutions  in 
France  was  arrested  and  many  of  their  neighbors  were  somewhat  con- 
fused by  the  French  Revolution.  In  Paris  it  destroyed  several  insti- 
tutions, and  the  Academy  of  Surger}^  ceased  to  distribute  its  annual 
prizes  in  1793. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century  great  progress  was 
made  in  all  branches  of  human  activity.  While  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury is  the  century  of  literature  the  nineteenth  is  that  of  the  positive 
sciences.  Physicians  and  surgeons  now  realize  that  medicine  and 
surgery  must  form  an  inseparable  body,  an  indivisible  unity,  and  that 
all  allied  sciences  should  converge  toward  the  advancement  of  medi- 
cine. Electricity,  chemistry  and  applied  mechanics  greatly  stimu- 
lated the  progress  and  industry  in  therapeutics.  Bacteriology  and 
pathological  anatomy,  which  are  the  foundations  of  surgery,  show 
splendid  development  in  the  second  half  of  the  nineteenth  century; 
this  period  must  be  considered  the  beginning  of  modern  surgery.  The 
three  fundamental  bases  of  modern  surgery  are  anesthesia,  hemostasis, 
antisepsis  and  asepsis. 

The  history  of  anesthesia  goes  back  many  centuries.  Herodotus 
tells  us  that  Scythians  inhaled  vapors  of  hemp  seed  to  produce  drunk- 
enness 200  B.  C.  Hoa-Tho,  a  Chinese  surgeon,  amputated  a  leg  by 
using  haschisch.  In  the  thirteenth  century  several  surgeons  used 
during  an  operation  sponges  saturated  with  the  juice  of  madragora. 
An  English  chemist,  Humphrey  Davey,  accidentally  discovered  the 
soporific  properties  of  the  protoxide  of  nitrogen;  in  1834  Horace 
Wells,  an  American  dentist,  tried  it  on  himself  and  Morton  and  Jack- 
son tried  it  on  others.  Wells  recommended  the  use  of  ether  instead 
of  protoxide  of  nitrogen.  It  is  said,  however,  that  the  American 
dentist  Morton  is  the  original  discoverer  of  the  anesthetic  properties 

(417) 


108 

of  ether.  Later,  Simpson  of  Edinburgh  used  chloroform  as  an  anes- 
thetic. A  committee  of  the  Chicago  Medical  Society  after  a  careful 
search  and  investigation  established  beyond  a  doubt  that  the  priority 
of  the  use  of  chloroform  belongs  to  Guthrie.  It  is  my  hope  as  well  as 
my  belief  that  chemistry  will  give  us  an  anesthetic  in  the  future  which 
will  not  be  toxic  and  will  never  expose  the  patient  to  death  from  its 
intrinsic  effects. 

Hemostasis  was  unknown  to  ancient  and  mediaeval  surgeons; 
patients  affected  with  severe  hemorrhage  died,  and  still  it  seems  the 
most  primitive  impulse  would  be  to  stay  the  flow  of  blood  by  pressure. 
Until  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century  sixty  per  cent,  of  the  amputa- 
tions were  practiced  without  hemostasis.  The  ligature  was  not  known 
until  the  time  of  Pare,  and  only  in  the  nineteenth  century  did  it  com- 
mence to  be  generally  employed.  In  1733  John  Louis  Petit  invented 
the  tourniquet. 

Antisepsis  and  asepsis  are  of  still  later  origin.  Until  the  discovery 
of  Pasteur  every  wound  suppurated  and  was  complicated  with 
er^'^sipelas,  gangrene,  tetanus,  and  the  like.  Abdominal  operations 
were  generally  fatal.  A  good  picture  of  the  epoch  before  Pasteur  and 
antisepsis  is  given  by  Harold  Begbie,  {Pall  Mall  Magazine,  1904,  vol. 
a):  "Thirty  years  ago  a  screaming  patient  was  strapped  and 
pinioned  to  the  operating  table.  The  knives  flashed  at  lightning 
speed,  the  surgeon,  sweating  with  his  hurried  carpentry,  dropping 
beads  of  perspiration  and  other  foreign  bodies  into  the  wound,  cut 
through  the  bone  with  a  saw,  whose  only  virtue  was  its  sharpness, 
while  the  assistant  selected  his  ligature  from  a  row  held  in  his  teeth, 
in  order  of  size  from  right  to  left.  " 

Systematic  and  scientific  antisepsis  originated  with  Pasteur  and 
Lister.  However,  the  ancient  nations  knew  of  certain  substances, 
marvelous  balsams,  which  had  the  properties  of  healing  wounds.  Hot 
iron  and  boiled  oil  were  used  as  antiseptics  in  the  Middle  Ages. 

In  ancient  Rome  malaria  claimed  many  victims.  Romans  con- 
ceived the  idea  that  some  strange  elements  must  enter  the  body  and 
thus  cause  the  disease.  It  was  customary  for  people  affected  with 
malaria  to  gather  in  public  places  and  make  a  prayer  asking  to  be 
delivered  from  these  strange  elements.  In  1838  Ehrenberg  considered 
the  infusoria  as  animals.  In  1840,  Vogel  described  the  oidium 
albicans.  In  1850  Davaine  after  listening  to  some  of  Pasteur's  lec- 
tures, considered  the  rods  (bacilli)  he  saw  in  the  blood  of  cattle,  which 
died  by  the  hundreds  in  various  herds,  as  being  responsible  for  the 
terrible  disease.  According  to  Pasteur's  principle  he  thought  that 
these  rods  fermented  in  the  blood  of  cattle  and  finally  caused  death. 
It  was  left  to  Pasteur  to  make  the  discovery  that  had  the  greatest 
influence  in  medicine  and  surgery  of  all  times.  Pasteur  after  years 
of  research  announced  that  fermentation  and  decomposition  of  fluids 

(418) 


109 

do  not  take  place  without  the  presence  of  some  microscopic  Hving 
organisms — bacteria.  His  theory  is  today  an  estabhshed  fact  and  it 
destroyed  the  school  of  spontaneous  generation.  Pasteur  proved  that 
boiling  is  unable  to  destroy  some  resistant  bacteria  or  their  spores, 
and  if  their  death  be  effected,  fermentation  is  impossible.  A  strong 
opponent  to  Pasteur's  theory  was  the  great  chemist  Liebig.  He  con- 
sidered fermentation  a  simple  chemical  process,  it  being  accomplished 
in  one  of  three  ways,  oxidation,  hydration  and  halfing.  We  all  know 
today  that  addition  of  oxygen,  water  or  splitting  of  a  molecule,  with- 
out the  presence  of  bacteria,  makes  fermentation  impossible.  Pasteur 
was  not  a  doctor  of  medicine,  yet  his  discovery  is  the  greatest  funda- 
mental principle  of  modern  surgery.  He  rightly  deserves  the  title  of 
"Father  of  modern  surgery."  Had  Pasteur  not  announced  the 
principle  of  bacterial  fermentation,  the  aspect  of  surgery  would  today 
have  been  the  same  as  two  thousand  years  ago.  Lord  Lister,  based 
on  Pasteur's  principles,  conceived  the  idea  of  treatment  of  infected 
wounds  by  carbolic  acid.  His  name  is  inseparable  from  that  of 
antisepsis.  His  personal  clinical  observation  completed  the  advan- 
tages drawn  from  Pasteur's  discovery.  He  noted  that  compound 
fractures,  that  is  fractures  exposed  to  air,  were  septic,  while  simple 
fractures,  or  those  not  exposed  to  air,  never  suppurated.  Lister,  at 
first  was  suspected  of  dishonesty,  but  scientific  truth  penetrates  every 
resistance  and  soon  all  European  countries  were  convinced  of  the  truth 
of  his  principle  and  grasped  the  magnitude  of  its  bearing  in  the  elongation 
of  life  and  amelioration  of  pain.  Later  Von  Bruns  and  Mickulicz  gave 
Lister's  principle  great  consideration;  by  their  researches  they  were 
able  to  demonstrate  that  the  danger  of  infection  from  the  air  was  not 
so  great  as  Lister  thought,  and  that  the  use  of  carbolic  acid  was  not 
absolutely  indispensable.  They  proved  that  bacterial  poisons  were 
also  tissue  poisons,  and  that  carbolic  acid  modified  the  protoplasm  of 
the  cells  and  even  destroyed  them.  Therefore,  they  thought  it  would 
be  better  policy  to  prevent  any  possiblity  of  infectious  organisms 
touching  the  wound  by  great  cleanliness,  and  from  this  principle  origi- 
nated asepsis,  which  is  the  basis  of  our  modern  surgery. 

The  nineteenth  century,  or  better,  its  second  half,  has  excelled 
in  discoveries.  One  can  truthfully  state  that  the  latter  half  of  the 
nineteenth  century  accomplished  more  than  the  previous  four  thous- 
and years.  The  progress  of  biology  and  pathology,  of  anatomy  and 
bacteriology,  the  appliance  of  chemistry  to  bacteriologic  and  patho- 
logic technique,  the  adaptation  of  electricity  and  applied  mechanics  to 
surgical  instruments  and  appliances  made  the  surgery  of  the  past  few 
years  realize  a  culminant  progress.  Mechanical  skill  and  surgical 
technique  have  attained  great  perfection. 

The  records  of  the  history  of  medicine  in  America  are  obscure,  scat- 
tered and  not  positive.     The  most  successful  attempt  of  reconstructing 

(419) 


no 

facts  in  their  chronologic  order,  based  upon  reHable  documents  is  that 
of  Packard  in  his  "History  of  Medicine  in  the  United  States." 

One  of  the  first  physicians  was  Dr.  Wootenn,who  came  to  Virginia 
in  1607,  as  surgeon  general  of  the  London  Company;  he  later  returned 
to  England.  One  of  the  first  surgeons  of  New  England  was  Dr.  Pratt, 
about  1640.  In  1629  the  governor  and  Company  of  Massachusetts 
Bay  in  New  England,  engaged  Lambert  Wilson  to  act  as  "  chirurgeon  " 
to  the  settlers  of  Salem.  America  did  not  escape  from  the  calamity 
of  the  practice  of  medicine  by  barbers,  which  was  so  widely  spread  in 
the  Middles  Ages  in  Europe.  This  can  be  seen  from  a  letter  of  Alricks 
(1658),  the  director  of  the  colony  of  New  Amstel,  in  which  he  states 
with  great  grief  "our  barber  surgeon  died,  and  another  well  acquainted 
with  the  profession  is  very  sick. " 

Among  the  passengers  on  the  Mayflower  was  Samuel  Fuller,  one  of 
the  earliest  practitioners  in  Massachusetts.  He  was  a  deacon  in  the 
church  of  Ley  den  and  was  not  entitled  to  practice  medicine,  as  he  held 
no  diploma.  This  association  of  medical  and  religious  practice  was 
not  uncommon  in  the  first  half  of  the  seventeenth  century.  We  find 
a  similar  example  in  Dr.  John  Fiske  who  in  1637  settled  at  Salem  as  a 
clergyman,  and  combined  the  practice  of  medicine  with  that  of  religion. 
In  1646  Winthrop  of  Boston  stated  in  one  of  his  letters  that  lues 
venerea  has  fallen  upon  many  of  the  population  of  Boston.  For  the 
relief  of  this  and  other  diseases  fasts  have  been  held  and  in  1690  the 
general  court  of  Massachusetts  ordered  a  public  fast  for  the  relief  of 
small-pox. 

Although  in  the  seventeenth  century  medico-legal  questions  were 
entirely  unknown  to  the  public  and  legal  authorities  of  various  com- 
munities, we  find  that  in  1690  Dr.  Kerfbeyle  performed  an  autopsy  on 
Governor  Slaughter.  He  had  died  suddenly  and  there  was  great  sus- 
picion of  poisoning.  In  the  second  half  of  the  sixteenth  and  the  first 
first  half  of  the  seventeenth  century  the  female  midwife  played  a  very 
active  and  important  role  in  the  communities  of  early  settlers.  The 
practice  of  midwifery  by  males  was  very  unusual.  The  first  physician 
to  practice  this  as  a  specialty  was  Dr.  James  Lloyd  of  Boston  in  1754. 

The  absence  of  sanitary  laws  on  the  vessels  carrying  immigrants 
for  America  resulted  in  the  death  of  a  great  many  either  during  the 
voyage  or  shortly  after  landing.  To  illustrate  we  will  mention  only 
one  of  the  very  numerous  examples.  In  1618  Francis  Blackwell 
shipped  one  hundred  and  eighty  colonists  intended  for  Virginia;  of 
these  one  hundred  and  thirty  died  on  the  voyage.  There  was  a  con- 
stant importation  of  diseases  from  Europe;  in  1677  many  perished  in 
New  England  from  small-pox.  The  disease  decimated  many  Indian 
villages.  Considerably  worried  by  these  ravages  physicians  and 
private  citizens  searched  for  a  remedy.  The  first  attempt  at  pro- 
phylactic inoculation  of    small-pox  was  made  in  Boston;  Reverend 

(420) 


Ill 

Walter  and  his  nephew  were  inoculated  by  Dr.  Mather.  The  public 
bitterly  denounced  the  procedure  and  threw  a  bomb  into  Dr.  Mather's 
house.  Later  they  calmly  accepted  inoculation  and  one  of  its  most 
ardent  partisans  was  Benjamin  Franklin.  In  Massachusetts  free 
vaccination  was  done  for  all  who  desired  to  submit  themselves. 

The  tirst  account  of  the  occurrence  of  yellow  fever  in  New  England 
was  in  1647. 

Americans  were  slow  in  founding  institutions  for  medical  education. 
Medical  knowledge  was  obtained  either  from  hospitals  or  physicians  of 
some  reputation.  A  certificate  of  apprenticeship  was  sufficient  to 
practice  medicine  in  those  days.  Those  who  wanted  to  learn  "physic  " 
went  to  Europe,  principally  to  London  and  Edinburgh.  We  see  for 
example  that  between  the  years  1758  and  1788,  sixtv-three  Americans 
graduated  from  the  University  of  Edinburgh. 

These  European  graduates  imported  to  America  not  only  a  sub- 
stantial knowledge  of  medicine  but  also  a  knowledge  of  many  of  its 
allied  sciences  and  were  classical  scholars.  Some  of  these  phvsicians 
possessed  encyclopedic  information. 

The  first  to  receive  a  diploma  in  the  United  States  was  Daniel 
Turner,  who  in  1720  obtained  the  honorary  degree  of  medicine  from 
Yale  College,  as  an  expression  of  its  appreciation  of  a  gift  to  the 
institution.  After  a  systematic  course  in  medicine,  the  first  diploma 
was  given  to  Dr.  Archer  of  Philadelphia.  One  of  the  first  systematic 
teachers  of  medicine  was  Dr.  Charles  F.  Wiesenthal,  who  settled  in 
Baltimore  in  1755. 

The  only  medical  work  published  in  the  seventeenth  century  was 
"A  Brief  Rule  to  Guide  the  Common  People  of  New  England  how  to 
Treat  Themselves  and  Others  in  the  Small  Pocks  or  Measels, "  by 
Thomas  Thatcher. 

The  Pennsylvania  hospital  was  an  important  medical  center  about 
the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century.  In  1783  Dr.  John  Foulke  was 
permitted  to  use  one  of  the  rooms  of  the  hospital  for  an  "elabratory ;" 
in  this  room  he  delivered  for  thirteen  years  lectures  on  "chirurgical 
and  physical  subjects,  "  charging  twelve  dollars  for  a  course. 

The  College  of  Philadelphia  was  founded  in  1749,  but  it  had  no 
medical  department  for  ten  years.  The  latter  was  established  by 
Dr.  John  Morgan,  who  was  a  pupil  in  medicine  of  Dr.  Redman  of 
Philadelphia.  In  1768  the  degree  of  M.  B.  was  given  to  seventeen 
graduates. 

In  1637  a  college  was  erected  in  Cambridge;  a  year  later  Rev.  John 
Harvard  donated  to  the  college  his  library  and  half  of  his  fortune. 
It  was  subsequently  known  as  Harvard  College,  now  Harvard  Uni- 
versity. The  medical  department  of  Harvard  was  not  organized 
until  1783.  In  1798  a  medical  department  was  established  in  Dart- 
mouth College,  Dr.  N.  Smith  being  one  of  its  founders. 

(421) 


112 

The  teaching  of  medicine  at  this  time  was  very  primitive.  One  of 
the  fundamental  branches  of  medicine,  anatomy,  was  taught  very 
imperfectly,  as  bodies  could  not  be  obtained  for  dissection;  the  law 
strictly  prohibited  dissection  and  vivisection.  Occasionally  a  dis- 
section was  made  on  the  body  of  a  condemned  criminal. 

Great  opportunity  was  offered  for  the  study  of  military  medicine 
and  surgery  during  the  Colonial  and  Revolutionary  wars.  Those 
desiring  to  enlist  in  the  Revolutionary  army  had  to  pass  a  careful 
medical  examination.  Military  hospitals  were  established  at  various 
points  under  the  charge  of  military  surgeons.  In  the  Colonial  period 
the  physician  occupied  one  of  the  highest  positions  in  the  community ; 
this  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  several  of  the  signers  of  the  Declaration 
of  Independence  were  physicians. 

One  of  the  earliest  hospitals  in  this  country  was  the  Pennsylvania 
hospital,  which  was  founded  about  1732.  For  several  years  preceding 
this  date  it  was  simply  an  almshouse,  so  that  properly  speaking  it  was 
not  a  hospital.  Some,  however,  trace  the  foundation  of  the  hospital 
back  to  1709 ;  its  first  clerk  was  Benjamin  Franklin.  It  has  the  oldest 
miedical  library  in  this  country.  The  second  oldest  in  this  country  is 
the  New  York  hospital.  Its  charter  was  granted  in  July,  1771,  as 
the  "Society  of  the  Hospital  of  the  City  of  New  York  in  America." 
The  foundation  was  laid  in  1773,  but  before  its  completion  it  was 
destroyed  by  fire  in  1775.  The  building  was  rapidly  reconstructed, 
and  in  1776  received  patients.  The  last  of  the  eighteenth  and  begin- 
ning of  the  nineteenth  centuries  witnessed  the  establishment  of  sev- 
eral dispensaries  in  Philadelphia  and  New  York. 

After  the  example  of  European  physicians  the  Americans  en- 
deavored to  assemble  and  discuss  medical  topics.  The  first  attempt 
at  a  medical  society  was  made  in  Boston  between  the  years  1735  and 
1741.  The  oldest  organized,  however,  is  the  "New  Jersey  Medical 
Society."  One  of  the  first  medical  journals  in  the  country  was  "A 
Journal  of  the  Practice  of  Medicine,  Surgery  and  Pharmacy  in  the 
Military  Hospitals  of  France,"  including  translations  from  French 
journals.  The  first  and  purely  American  medical  journal  was  the 
"Medical  Repository"  (1797  to  1824). 

In  the  sixteenth  and  a  part  of  the  seventeenth  century  there  were 
no  laws  regulating  the  practice  of  medicine.  In  1736  an  act  was 
passed  in  Virginia  regulating  the  fees  and  accounts  of  physicians.  In 
1760  an  act  was  passed  in  New  York  that  only  those  should  be  entitled 
to  practice  medicine  and  surgery  who  passed  an  examination  before  a 
board  composed  of  "One  of  his  Majesty's  Council,  a  Judge  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  the  Attorney  General  and  the  Mayor."  Another 
similar  law  was  passed  in  New  Jersey  in  1772. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century  American  medicine 
was  practically  British,  as  most  of  the  American  students  came  from 

(422) 


113 

Great  Britain,  and  American  medical  literature  at  this  period  was 
under  strong  British  influence. 

While  the  Americans  were  greatly  absorbed  by  the  struggle  for 
independence,  and  naturally  neglected  the  practice  of  medicine  and 
surgery,  we  find  here  and  there  eminent  surgeons.  One  of  the  most 
conspicuaus  places  in  the  gallery  of  American  surgeons  is  occupied  by 
Ephraim  McDowell,  a  native  of  Virginia  and  a  resident  of  Danville, 
Kentucky,  who  in  1809  made  the  first  ovariotomy  ever  performed 
and  that  without  an  anesthetic.  His  patient  lived  thirtv-two  years. 
Under  those  unfortunate  conditions  for  the  practice  of  surgery  he 
saved  the  lives  of  eleven  women  out  of  thirteen  operated.  Ministers 
and  colleagues  condemned  McDowell  for  this  practice.  They  were 
supported  by  the  local  press.  When  McDowell  presented  his  manu- 
script on  the  practice  of  ovariotomy  its  publication  was  refused  be- 
cause it  was  a  "barbarous  procedure,"  and  as  such  should  be  aban- 
doned. Ovariotomy  was  greatly  ridiculed  at  first  in  England.  The 
blighting  influence  and  caustic  criticism  of  the  "experienced"  did  not 
abash  the  germ  of  truth  in  McDowell's  achievements,  though  many  an 
intellectual  ovtim  has  been  destroyed  by  its  acetic  force.  The  second 
surgeon  to  perform  this  operation  in  the  United  States  was  Nathan 
Smith.  The  mortality  of  ovariotomy  at  the  beginning  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century  was  about  sixty-six  per  cent.;  about  1850  the  average 
mortality  in  Europe  w^as  from  sixty  to  seventy  per  cent.  At  the 
present  time  we  know  that  the  mortality  does  not  exceed  one  per  cent. 

One  of  the  most  important  events  at  the  beginning  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  in  America  is  the  discovery  of  anesthetics.  According 
to  Packard  the  credit  for  first  using  ether  for  anesthetic  purpose  goes 
to  Crawford  W.  Long;  its  application  to  practice  is  due  of  W.  T.  G. 
Morton,  who  used  it  surgically  after  the  suggestion  of  Jackson,  who 
did  not  take  as  much  interest  as  Morton  did.  Horace  Wells,  after 
listening  to  a  lecture  on  the  chemistry  of  nitrous  oxide  used  it  the 
next  day  on  himself.  One  of  his  teeth  was  extracted  by  one  of  his 
colleagues.  Recovering  from  the  anesthetic,  Wells  exclaimed,  "A 
new  era  in  tooth  pulling."  There  was  in  those  times  a  great  conten- 
tion for  priority,  which  caused  so  much  ill  feeling  that  some  of  the 
participants  became  insane. 

The  number  of  famous  surgeons  increased  constantly  in  the  nine- 
teenth century.  One  of  these  was  Rhea  Barton  of  Philadelphia;  he 
had  several  original  procedures  for  operating  on  the  bone  and  joint. 
Various  records  show  that  he  was  the  first  surgeon  to  suture  the  pa- 
tella. 

Physick  sutured  two  fragments  of  a  fractured  humerus.  Valentine 
Mott,  (1786  to  1865),  was  the  first  to  ligate  the  innominate  artery, 
and  the  patient  survived  for  a  long  time.     He  was  famous  in  his  time 


(423) 


114 

for  his  arterial  surgery.  In  1856,  Cornochan  excised  the  second 
branch  of  the  trigeminus  for  tic  douloureux. 

Nephrectomy  is  an  American  operation  and  was  first  performed  by 
Wolcott  of  Milwaukee  for  a  malignant  disease.  British  surgeons  ig- 
nored Dr.  Wolcott  and  considered  Simon  of  Heidelberg  the  first  to 
practice  nephrectomy.  The  extirpation  of  the  kidney  for  gunshot 
wounds  was  first  made  by  W.  W.  Keen  of  Philadelphia. 

A  great  part  of  the  credit  for  abdominal  operations  goes  to  Ameri- 
cans. The  first  laparotomy  for  intussusception  was  practiced  on  a 
negro  in  1831  by  Dr.  Wilton.  This  was  followed  by  a  complete 
recovery.  In  1847  Gross  advised  the  patient  to  have  extirpation  of 
a  segment  of  the  intestine  and  repair  by  end-to-end  suture.  The 
patient  refused  the  operation.  An  operation  of  the  same  character 
was  later  performed  by  Kinloch  of  South  Carolina. 

Pathologic  anatomy  and  surgical  pathology  originated  in  this 
country  with  Samuel  B.  Gross,  1805  to  1884.  He  is  also  the  origi- 
nator of  experimental  surgery  later  promoted  by  Charles  T.  Parks. 

Advancements  in  surgery  in  this  country  became  so  numerous  and 
from  so  many  sources  that  even  a  chronological  enumeration  of  the 
events  and  men  would  carry  me  beyond  limitations.  The  American 
Medical  Association,  the  largest  medical  organization  in  the  world, 
was  founded  by  Dr.  Nathan  Smith  Davis  in  1849  He  was  a  citizen 
of  Illinois  and  for  many  years  he  was  the  guiding  genius  of  this  asso- 
ciation. Illinois  has  the  largest  state  medical  society  in  the  Union. 
Its  metropolis,  Chicago,  has  the  largest  local  county  society  in  the 
world.  Chicago  has  a  greater  number  of  medical  and  dental  students 
than  any  other  city  on  the  globe.  Illinois  is  geographically  and 
scientifically  so  situated  that  it  is  destined  to  become  the  "hub"  of 
medical  education  in  the  western  hemisphere.  The  force  and  dura- 
tion of  its  influence  in  that  position  must  in  a  large  degree  devolve  on 
the  medical  department  of  this  University,  on  you  gentlemen  of  its 
Faculty,  on  you  alumni,  on  you  students  of  the  University  of  Illinois, 
each  performing  his  task  to  the  fullest  power  under  the  leadership  of 
the  intellectual  giant  who  today  is  installed  as  your  President. 

From  these  contemporary  national  advancements  of  medicine, 
the  conviction  is  irresistible  that  it  is  an  evolvement  according  to  the 
well  defined  laws  of  intellectual  development,  and  not  an  arbitrary, 
haphazard  or  chance  result. 

After  the  consideration  of  this  array  of  historic  events,  both  in 
Europe  and  America,  we  naturally  turn  to  the  doctor  himself  aside 
from  his  art  and  his  science  and  ask,  why  have  doctors  been  the  hon- 
ored men  of  all  ages,  conspicuous  for  advancement?  Because  of  their 
love  of  truth  and  their  fearlessness  in  its  defense.  Why  have  they 
exerted  such  an  influence  in  the  progress  of  science,  of  ethics  and  of 
society?     Because  they  have  been  the  learned  and  educated  people  of 

(424) 


115 

all  times.  They  pursued  science  for  the  love  of  knowledge,  and  for 
its  practical  application  to  the  diminution  of  human  suffering.  By 
their  exemplary  lives,  by  their  loyalty  to  the  code,  which  is  the  prac- 
tical application  of  the  Golden  Rule,  they  have  stimulated  a  respect 
for  dutv  that  matured  to  the  science  of  ethics.  As  scholarly  and  scien- 
tific men,  as  models  of  morality  and  integrity,  they  have  exerted  a 
great  influence  in  molding  society  to  their  high  ideals.  Why  have  they 
been  in  close  touch  with  all  grades  and  classes  of  people?  Because  of 
their  ubiqmtous  admiration  of  knowledge,  which  is  power;  because  of 
their  innate  respect  for  the  exemplars  of  morality  and  integrity ; 
because  of  their  avowed  devotion  to  duty  regardless  of  its  personal  or 
physical  hazards  or  its  pecuniary  rewards;  because  of  the  dominance 
of  the  humanitarian  principles  in  their  life  work,  where  the  best  of 
medical  store  is  distributed  as  lavishly  on  the  penniless  as  on  the 
prince ;  because  of  their  recognition  as  a  profession  living  close  to  the 
highest  ideals  of  the  intellectuality  of  their  time ;  and  the  ideals  of  an 
individual,  of  a  profession  or  a  community  are  the  best  meters  of  their 
intrinsic  worth.  No  individual,  profession  or  nation  ever  attained  to 
any  considerable  height  without  lofty  ideals.  One  cannot  avoid  a 
deep  admiration  for  those  of  the  medical  profession,  and  a  deeper 
respect  for  the  fidelity  with  w^hich  its  individuals  and  organized  bodies 
have  endeavored  to  attain  them.  The  prevalence  and  stimulus  of  our 
ideals  have  been  the  measure  of  strength  of  our  progress.  Their 
neglect  would  signal  our  decadence ;  their  abolition  would  be  the  death 
knell  of  our  usefulness  and  influence  in  the  world's  evolution. 

What  are  the  impulses  that  have  continually  impelled  the  medical 
profession  in  its  indefatigable  and  untiring  efforts  at  advancement? 
They  have  been  the  most  honorable  and  powerful  which  operate  on 
man's  destiny;  love  and  sympathy  for  their  fellow  man,  admiration  of 
and  desire  for  knowledge  of  the  laws  that  govern  the  complex,  diverse 
and  multiform,  mechanical  and  chemical  construction  and  affinities 
of  the  human  organism,  so  harmonious  and  constant  in  their  workings 
as  to  form  a  poem  of  action  and  a  symphony  of  chemical  changes. 
The  doctor's  achievements  have  been  the  result  of  the  operation  of 
the  inexorable  law  of  advancement  which  controls  intellectual  progress 
in  every  phase  of  science.  Medicine  has  not  advanced  independently 
nor  far  beyond  the  collateral  sciences.  It  has  appropriated  to  its 
service  and  to  practical  appHcation  the  principles  of  mechanics,  the 
elements  of  chemistry,  the  force  of  physics,  the  knowledge  of  biology, 
the  science  of  bacteriology  with  its  changes  in,  and  products  of  micro- 
organisms as  influenced  by  environment  and  physical  and  chemical 
laws.  The  medical  profession  has  continually  advanced  by  its  honest 
and  critical  analysis  of  its  theory  and  practice  in  the  past,  by  its 
enthusiasm  and  thirst  for  the  establishment  of  fundamental  principles 
of  truth  in  the  present,  and  its  tender  and  confiding  solicitude  for  the 

(425) 


116 

intellectual  and  moral  training  of  its  members  for  the  future.  Medi- 
cine has  given  birth  to  few  iconoclasts ;  it  has  nurtured  many  devoted, 
honest  and  courageous  critics.  We  can  well  say  of  the  doctor  with 
Adams,  that  he  was  made  for  all  ages — for  the  past,  b}?-  the  sentiment 
of  reverence  for  the  achievements  of  his  professional  forefathers ;  that 
he  was  made  for  the  present  by  his  ideal  humanitarian  love  and  sym- 
pathy, and  that  he  was  made  for  all  future  time  by  the  impulses  of 
affection  for  his  progeny.  The  record  of  professional  history  has  not 
a  discordant  note  to  these  sentiments.  The  working  axiom  of  the 
medical  profession  should  be,  "study  your  forefathers,  build  for  pos- 
terity. " 

Young  aspirants  to  medical  honors,  your  science,  your  art,  your 
ethics,  and  your  devotion  to  principles  must  command  the  admiration 
of  contemporary  scientists,  and  incite  the  enthusiasm,  stimulate  the 
endeavor  and  foster  the  perseverance  of  medical  posterity.  You 
must  see  that  your  heritage  as  a  member  of  the  medical  profession  is 
not  only  carried  unsullied  through  your  lives,  but  that  it  has  been 
enriched  by  your  labor,  that  it  has  been  refined  by  the  heat  of  your 
enthusiasm,  and  that  you  have  added  to  it  strength  and  courage — the 
force  which  comes  from  a  love  of  truth,  the  practice  of  virtue,  respect 
and  solicitude  for  the  .rights  of  others.  You  must  not  permit  the 
pride  of  attainment  nor  the  blight  of  self-satisfaction  to  retard  your 
efforts.  You  must  not  permit  the  sophistries  of  commercialism  nor 
the  delusions  of  immediate  gain  to  warp  the  sterling-  principles  of 
integrity.  You  must  not  be  unmindful  that  you  are  a  link  in  the  great 
chain  of  medicine,  and  its  strength  depends  on  you. 

Finally,  what  an  honor  it  is  to  belong  to  a  profession  to  which 
Robert  Louis  Stevenson  has  paid  this  great  tribute : 

"There  are  men  and  classes  of  men  that  stand  above  the  common 
herd;  the  soldier,  the  sailor  and  shepherd  not  infrequently;  the  artist 
rarely;  rarelier  still,  the  clergyman;  the  physician  almost  as  a  rule. 
He  is  the  flower — such  as  it  is — of  our  civilization;  and  when  the 
stage  of  man  is  done  with,  and  only  remembered  to  be  marvelled  at 
in  history,  he  will  be  thought  to  have  shared  as  little  as  any  in  the 
defects  of  the  period,  and  most  notably  exhibited  the  virtues  of  his 
race.  Generosity  he  has,  such  as  is  possible  to  those  who  practice  an 
art  based  on  science,  never  to  those  who  drive  a  trade;  discretion, 
tested  by  a  hundred  secrets;  tact,  tried  in  a  thousand  embarrassments; 
and  what  are  most  important,  Herculean  cheerfulness  and  courage. 
So  it  is  that  he  brings  air  and  cheer  into  the  sick  room,  and  often 
enough,  though  no  so  often  as  he  wishes,  brings  healing. " 


(426) 


117 

INAUGURAL  EXERCISES 

The  Armory,  3:00  p.m. 

PROGRAM 

The  Vice-President  of  the  University  Presiding 

Academic  Procession. 

Music:     Festival  March,  Mendelssohn;  The  University  Orchestra. 

Reading  of  the  Ninetieth  Psalm:  The  Right  Reverend  George  F. 
Seymour,  D.D.,  Bishop  of  Springfield. 

Hymn:     St.  Anne. 

Prayer:     The  Bishop  of  Springfield. 

Address:     The  Honorable  Charles  S.  Deneen,  Governor  of  Illinois. 

Address:  The  Honorable  Samuel  A.  Bullard,  President  of  the  Board 
of  Trustees. 

Response:     The  President  of  the  University. 

Chorus:     The  Lord  bless  and  keep  thee,  Barnby. 

Address:  The  Honorable  Andrew  S.  Draper,  Former  President  of  the 
University  and  Commissioner  of  Education,  State  of  New  York. 

Music:  Song  Without  Words,  Tschaikoivsky;  The  University  Or- 
chestra. 

Inaugural  Address:     The  President  of  the  University. 

Conferring  of  Degrees. 

Benediction. 

Recessional. 


ORDER  OF  PROCESSION 
Part  I — The  Escort 

Division  I — The  University  Regiment. 

Division  II — The  Undergraduate  and  Graduate  Students:  Mem- 
bers of  the  Freshman  Class,  men,  women;  Members  of  the  Sophomore 
Class,  men,  women;  members  of  the  Junior  Class,  men,  women;  mem- 
bers of  the  Senior  Class,  men,  women ;  members  of  the  Graduate  School, 
men,  women;  Members  of  the  College  of  Law;  members  of  the  College 
of  Medicine;  members  of  the  College  of  Dentistry;  members  of  the 
School  of  Pharmacy. 

Division  III — The  Alumni  in  order  by  classes,  the  class  of  1905 
leading. 

Division  IV — The  Faculty  of  the  University:     School  of  Pharm- 
acy ;  College  of  Dentistry ;  College  of  Medicine ;  College  of  Law ;  School 
of  Music ;   School  of  Library  Science ;   College  of  Agriculture ;   College 
of  Science;  College  of  Engineering;   College  of  Literature  and  Arts. 
Part  II — The  Procession 

Division  I — The  President,  the  Trustees,  Speakers,  and  Repre- 
sentatives of  the  State  and  Nation :     The  Governor  of  the  State ;  The 

(427) 


118 

President  of  the  University;  The  Bishop  of  Springfield;  The  Ex- 
President  of  the  University;  The  Speaker  of  the  United  States  House 
of  Representatives;  Major-General  John  F.  Weston,  U.S.A.,  Repre- 
senting the  Department  of  War;  The  Junior  Senator  from  IlHnois; 
The  President  of  the  Board  of  Trustees;  The  Vice-President  of  the 
University;  The  Lieutenant-Governor  of  the  State;  The  Trustees  and 
Ex-Trustees  of  the  University;  The  Treasurer  of  the  University; 
The  Speaker  of  the  IlHnois  House  of  Representatives;  The  Comp- 
troller of  the  University;  The  Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Trustees; 
Candidates  for  Honorary  degrees. 

Division  II — Representatives  of  Political  and  Administrative 
Bodies:  Representatives  of  Foreign  Countries;  Member  of  Congress; 
State  Officers;  Judges;  Members  of  the  State  Legislature;  Municipal 
Officers;  Boards  of  Education. 

Division  III — Representatives  of  Educational  Bodies:  Delegates 
from  Foreign  Universities;  Delegates  from  American  Universities  and 
Colleges;  Delegates  from  Learned  Societies;  Trustees  of  Colleges  and 
Universities;  School  Superintendents  and  Principals. 

Division  IV — Representatives  of  Societies  and  Associations: 
Presbyterian  Synod;  Clergymen;  Clubs;  Agricultural  Societies;  Repre- 
sentatives of  the  Press. 


ADDRESS 

The  Honorable  Charles  S.  Deneen 
Governor  of  Illinois 

The  inaugural  ceremonies  of  this  week,  incident  to  the  installation 
of  Dr.  James  as  President  of  the  University  of  Illinois,  mark  an  im- 
portant event  in  the  history  of  our  State.  The  very  general  interest 
manifested  in  these  ceremonies  by  our  people  indicates  the  confidence 
which  the  people  have  in  him.  These  ceremom.es  are  not  only  meant 
as  a  compliment  to  him,  but  are  also  an  expression  of  the  interest 
which  the  people  have  in  the  future  of  this  institution.  This  is  dis- 
tinctively the  people's  University.  It  was  not  only  founded  by  the 
people,  but  its  organic  law  provided  that  it  should  be  conducted  for 
the  people. 

I  have  thought  it  might  be  of  interest  to  speak  for  a  moment  on 
what  has  been  at  different  times  the  ideal  of  the  university. 

In  the  Middle  Ages,  the  university  was  conceived  to  be  a  means  of 
methodizing,  perpetuating  and  applying  all  past  knowledge,  and  an 
instrument  for  taking  up  every  new  branch  as  it  came  successively 
into  existence.  The  purpose  of  the  university  was  primarily  to  train 
the  mind  and  faculties  of  mind  to  the  highest  point  of  culture.  This 
was  a  broad  conception  surely,  but  in  those  days  a  narrow  view  was 

(428) 


119 

entertained  of  the  subjects  fitted  for  the  purpose.  These  ordinarily 
included  grammar,  rhetoric,  arithmetic,  music,  geometry  and  astrono- 
my. Now  it  is  easy  to  see  that,  important  as  these  studies  are,  and 
admirably  calculated  to  develop  the  mental  powers,  they  are  some- 
what remote  from  that  class  of  knowledge  which  in  the  present  day  is 
occupying  a  larger  place  in  modern  university  education.  I  mean 
the  knowledge  which  is  susceptible  of  ready  application  to  the  sub- 
servience of  the  immediate  needs  of  life,  to  the  demands  of  agriculture 
and  of  the  mechanic  arts,  and,  generally,  of  manufacture  and  commerce. 
To  be  sure,  in  the  days  of  which  I  speak,  these  had  made  so  little 
progress  and  knowledge  of  them  was  in  so  unorganized  a  state, 
that  thev  would  have  furnished  indifferent  media  for  the  discipline 
and  development  of  the  mind.  What  I  particularly  wish  to  note, 
however,  regarding  them,  is  that  having  been  established  for  a  long 
time,  they  were  permitted  to  occupy  perhaps  too  large  a  place  in 
modern  universities. 

A  change  was  introduced  with  the  growth  of  science  and  the  chal- 
lenge which  the  scientists  issued  in  behalf  of  the  claims  of  their 
favorite  studies.  These  they  claimed  were  not  only  equal  to  any 
studies  as  a  mental  discipline,  but  also  of  the  greatest  intrinsic  value 
because  they  brought  the  mind  into  direct  contact  with  the  work  of 
things,  leading  naturally  to  that  original  research  which  gives  to  man 
a  mastery  and  dominion  over  the  physical  world. 

This  is  the  class  of  studies  upon  which  Baconian  philosophy  be- 
stowed the  highest  praise;  the  studies  whose  practical  benefits  were 
obvious;     the  studies  which,  to  quote  Macaulay: 

"Enable  man  to  lengthen  life;  to  mitigate  pain;  to  extinguish  dis- 
ease ;  to  increase  the  fertility  of  the  soil ;  to  give  new  securities  to  the 
mariner;  to  furnish  new  arms  to  the  warrior;  to  span  great  rivers,  and 
estuaries  with  bridges  of  form  unknown  to  our  fathers;  to  guide  the 
thunderbolt  innocuously  from  heaven  to  earth ;  to  light  the  night  with 
the  splendor  of  the  day ;  to  extend  the  range  of  human  vision  ;  to  multi- 
ply the  power  of  human  muscles ;  to  accelerate  motion ;  to  annihilate 
distance;  to  facihtate  intercourse,  correspondence,  all  friendly  ofiices, 
all  dispatch  of  business ;  to  enable  a  man  to  descend  to  the  depths  of 
the  sea,  to  soar  into  the  air,  to  penetrate  securely  into  the  noxious 
recesses  of  the  earth,  to  traverse  the  land  in  cars  which  whirl  along 
without  horses,  and  the  ocean  with  ships",  which  run  twenty-three 
knots  an  hour  against  the  wind — and  not  ten  as  in  Macaulay's  day. 

I  speak  of  this  change,  or  rather  widening  of  the  scope  of  instruc- 
tion in  universities,  which  came  with  lapse  of  time  and  the  progress  of 
knowledge,  not  with  a  view  of  adversely  criticising  the  older  system. 
In  the  study  of  knowledge  then  existing,  it  afforded  perhaps  a  discipline 
of  the  mind  the  best  attainable.  Whatever  their  limitations,  still  as 
Gladstone  had  graphically  observed  of  the  old  universities:     "What 

(429) 


120 

the  castle  was  to  the  feudal  baron,  what  the  guild  was  to  the  infant 
middle  class,  they  were  to  knowledge  and  to -mental  freedom."  I 
speak  of  the  narrow  field  covered  by  the  old,  only  to  praise  the  more 
varied  and  broader  scope  of  the  modern  university. 

It  was  but  natural  when  education  was  estimated  as  possible  for 
the  few  and  privileged  onl}^  that  those  things  which  were  of  chief 
importance  to  the  man  of  leisure  should  be  given  the  first  and  largest 
place  in  the  higher  institutions  of  learning.  There  still  remained, 
too,  something  of  the  idea  of  Plato,  that  to  turn  education  to  practical 
account,  to  devote  it  to  the  amelioration  of  man's  condition,  was  not 
to  put  it  to  the  best  use.  That  the  only  noble  purpose  of  education 
was  to  lead  men  to  knowledge  of  abstract,  essentially  eternal  truth, 
and  that  it  was  a  sort  of  degradation  of  its  high  nature  to  apply  it  to 
any  purpose  of  vulgar  utility.  But,  with  the  growth  of  commerce 
and  manufacture,  and  the  intensification  of  industries  which  called 
for  expert  and  finallv  for  scientific  methods  in  the  conduct  of  business 
enterprises,  it  was  found  that  the  training  for  business  and  affairs 
might  furnish  quite  as  rigid  a  discipline  for  the  intellect  as  did  those 
studies,  elegant  or  severe,  which  had  theretofore  held  all  but  exclusive- 
ly the  field  of  university  education. 

Now  the  university,  covering  as  it  did  the  entire  field  of  human 
knowledge,  always  conformed  in  some  degree  to  the  state  of  the 
society  which  constituted  its  environment.  With  this  fact  in  mind, 
the  idea  which  governed  our  intensely  practical  ancestors,  in  the  es- 
tablishment of  the  American  system  of  state  universities,  is  readily 
understood.  When,  in  1862,  the  act  was  passed  which  brought  into 
being  these  great  institutions  of  learning,  the  idea  of  the  noblest 
citizenship  was  found  not  in  the  man  of  wealth  and  leisure,  but  in  the 
man  of  action,  especially  that  action  which  was  useful  in  subduing  the 
powers  of  nature  to  the  purposes  of  man.  A  continent  practically 
undeveloped  was  our  heritage,  and  our  fathers  wisely  determined  that 
our  popular  institutions  of  learning  should  have  for  their  mission  the 
education  of  the  youths  of  the  nation  in  those  studies  which  would 
best  fit  them  for  their  manifest  destiny,  as  pioneers  in  agriculture, 
mining  and  other  industrial  pursuits.  Accordingly  it  was  provided 
that  the  state  universities  should  be  maintained  for  the  education  of 
the  children  of  the  people  "in  agriculture  and  the  mechanic  arts,  not 
excluding  scientific  and  classical  studies,  and  including  military 
tactics. " 

For  the  purpose  of  carrying  into  execution  the  ideas  outlined  in 
the  federal  grant,  the  University  of  Illinois  was  magnificently  endowed 
by  that  instrument  with  four  hundred  and  eightv  thousand  acres  of 
public  land.  It  was  hoped  at  that  time  that  the  states  would  assist 
in  their  maintenance.  This  hope  has  been  realized  many  fold  in  this 
State.     The  public  lands  were  sold  for  about  half  a  million  dollars. 

(430) 


121 

The  first  appropriation  by  the  State  in  1869  was  sixty  thousand  dol- 
lars. Twenty  years  thereafter  it  was  eighty  thousand  dollars.  The 
last  appropriation,  which  was  the  largest,  was  $1,512,535.  The 
aggregate  appropriations  by  Congress  for  the  University  of  Illinois,  in 
addition  to  the  Land  Grant,  have  been  three  hundred  and  forty-five 
thousand  dollars.  The  aggregate  appropriations  by  the  State, 
$6,291,552.90. 

Over  one-half  of  this  amount  has  been  appropriated  by  the  State 
within  the  last  six  vears,  and  three  quarters  of  it  within  the  past 
decade.  The  State  now  appropriates  to  this  institution  an  amount 
equal  to  three-fourths  of  that  given  by  it  in  aid  of  the  public  schools. 
Even  with  these  vast  receipts,  the  University  is  hardly  able  to  keep 
pace  with  its  progress  and  requirements ;  but  it  has  held  fast  to  its 
mission  to  educate  the  children  of  the  people  in  all  branches  of  human 
knowledge,  none  of  which  have  been  excluded  by  the  instrument  upon 
which  it  is  founded,  with  special  departments  covering  those  branches 
of  learning  specifically  mentioned,  agriculture  and  the  mechanical 
arts. 

But  it  is  needless  for  me  to  speak  to  you  in  detail  of  the  branches 
of  learning  which  now  come  within  the  scope  of  your  institution. 
When  I  say  it  embraces  the  colleges  of  Literature  and  Arts,  Engineer- 
ing, Science,  Agriculture,  and  Law;  a  Graduate  School;  schools  of 
Music  and  Library  Science,  and  colleges  of  Medicine,  Dentistry,  and 
Pharmacy,  I  have  to  sav  that  the  aim  of  the  founders  of  our  American 
state  universities  has  been  faithfully  adhered  to.  The  significance  of 
this  adherence  to  the  federal  ideal  has  been  that  the  University  of 
Illinois  has  become  one  of  the  most  efficient  instruments  in  the  State 
for  the  development  of  its  natural  resources  and  this,  not  only  in- 
directly through  the  training  of  students  in  the  sciences  and  arts,  but 
directly  through  the  work  of  the  Agricultural  Experiment  Station 
which  has  contributed  so  much  to  our  knowledge  of  the  physical 
situation  of  our  State  and  knowledge  of  inestimable  benefit  to  our 
fanners  through  their  free  publication  and  distribution  of  the  bulletins 
issued  by  the  Experiment  Station. 

Were  this  the  proper  occasion  I  think  it  would  not  be  difficult  to 
show  that  the  benefit  derived  from  this  branch  of  university  work,  in 
the  improvements  of  crops  and  of  domestic  animals,  and  in  the  devel- 
opment of  hidden  resources,  can  scarcely  be  overestimated,  and 
considered  as  a  matter  of  dollars  and  cents  is  one  of  the  best  invest- 
ments which  the  State  has  ever  made. 

I  have  dwelt  so  far  upon  the  tendency  to  the  practical  which  is  so 
obvious  and  characteristic  of  our  state  universities ;  the  tendency  to 
train  the  eye  and  the  hand  for  the  highest  grade  of  work  in  the  arts 
and  for  the  successful  management  of  great  business  enterprises. 
But  the  development  of  this  tendency  has  by  no  means  displaced  the 

(431) 


122 

pursuit  of  the  more  abstract  studies.  These  still  have  their  place  and 
a  very  large  place  in  our  American  universities.  Philosophy  and 
literature  still  attract  a  larger  number  of  our  young  people  and  the 
professions  claim  their  full  share.  But  I  think  it  is  a  sign  of  the 
soundness  and  healthiness  of  our  institutions  that  the  diversitv  of 
American  pursuits  and  interests  find  their  reflection  in  the  character 
of  our  higher  institutions  of  learning  and  that  a  thorough  preparation 
for  any  useful  career  can  be  there  secured.     This  is  as  it  should  be. 

The  American  university  should  present  the  same  aspect  as  does 
our  society.  It  should  be  many-sided,  broad  and  diversified;  in  short, 
a  democracy  of  higher  learning,  fitted  for  the  development  of  the 
human  mind  and  of  the  human  body  and  for  the  training  of  men  and 
women  for  the  multifarious  and  practical  duties  of  American  citizen- 
ship. 


THE  RELATIONS  BETWEEN  THE  BOARD  OF  TRUSTEES 
AND  THE  PRESIDENT 

The  Honorable  Samuel  A.  Bullard 
President  of  the  Board  of  Trustees 

The  people  of  the  State  of  Illinois  represented  in  the  twenty-fifth 
General  Assembly  accepted  the  endowment  offered  by  the  federal 
government  and  created  a  University  for  the  State.  The  government 
and  administration  of  the  University  were,  in  the  wisdom  of  the 
people,  placed  in  the  hands  of  a  Board  of  Trustees.  Among  other 
things  this  Board  was  charged  with  the  duties  of  providing  lands, 
buildings  and  equipment,  and  of  appointing  a  President  and  a  Faculty 
for  the  University.  The  Trustees  are  answerable  to  the  people  for 
their  acts  inasmuch  as  none  may  hold  his  office  longer  than  for  a 
period  of  six  years  without  going  to  the  people  for  a  renewed  expression 
of  confidence  and  a  commission  for  further  service.  The  Board  is 
further  required  to  report  every  two  years  to  the  Governor  of  the 
State  all  its  acts  and  doings  for  the  information  of  the  people  and  their 
representatives.  The  people  therefore  have  chosen  to  place  the  con- 
duct of  this  great  educational  institution  upon  twelve  of  its  citizens 
who  are  directly  responsible  to  them. 

The  organic  law  expresses  certain  conditions  and  requirements 
under  which  the  University  was  to  be  operated,  and  aside  from  these 
few  limitations  the  scope  of  the  University  was  an  open  field.  But 
the  conditions  and  requirements  imposed  by  the  law  expressed  a  great 
purpose  of  the  people.  In  general  terms  they  were  that  this  Univer- 
sity should  have  its  prime  purpose  to  be  the  thorough  instruction  of 
the  sons  and  daughters  of  the  common  people  in  the  higher  branches 
of  university  education.  It  was  the  application  of  the  common  school 
system  to  the  higher  education  furnished  only  by  the  universities. 

(432) 


123 

No  class  was  legislated  against,  all  could  enjoy  equally  the  privileges 
of  the  University,  but  none  was  to  receive  advantages  superior  to  or 
bevond  those  given  to  the  people  representing  the  bone  and  sinew  of 
the  State.  These  conditions  and  requirements  affecting  the  Univer- 
sitv  have  been  persisted  in  by  the  people  to  this  day,  and  they  are  the 
subjects  of  their  jealous  care. 

In  the  conduct  of  anv  great  business,  even  of  a  business  that  is 
rapidlv  expanding,  there  are  periods  of  advancement  and  of  decline. 
Business  enterprises  like  the  sea  have  the  rise  and  fall  of  the  tides. 
Thev  even  ha\-e  their  storms  and  calms,  all  of  which  may  be  ominous 
of  perils.  New  policies  are  to  be  tried  and  judged,  new  departments 
are  to  be  organized  or  old  ones  reduced,  or  changed  to  suit  new  con- 
ditions. So  it  is  in  the  conduct  of  a  large  institution  of  learning.  One 
of  the  periods  of  deepest  concern  in  its  governing  board  is  when  there 
is  a  vacancv  in  the  presidency.  And  one  of  the  most  difficult  duties 
to  perform,  and  one  which  affects  more  directly  the  general  character 
and  trend  of  the  institution  than  any  other,  is  the  choice  of  a  President. 
In  the  State  University  the  President  is  the  educational  head  of  the 
University.  The  organic  law  charges  him  "with  the  general  super- 
vision of  the  educational  facilities  and  interests  of  the  University." 
The  real  power  is  in  the  people  and  the  choice  of  a  President  of  the 
University  is  important,  in  that  the  chief  executive  is  so  far  removed 
from  the  source  of  authority.  The  relation  between  the  people  and 
the  President  of  the  University  is  much  the  same  as  the  body  of  stock- 
holders of  a  corporation  to  the  president  of  a  corporation.  The 
Trustees  and  the  President  have  much  the  same  relation  as  the  board 
of  directors  and  the  president  of  the  corporation.  The  stockholders 
are  incorporated  together  to  accomplish  certain  specific  ends.  They 
choose  a  board  of  directors  to  determine  policies  and  employ  men  to 
put  those  policies  into  effect  who  will  produce  the  ends  originally 
sought  by  the  stockholders.  If  results  fail,  a  change  of  administration 
and  a  change  of  policy  usually  follow. 

The  people  of  the  State  in  their  determination  to  establish  a  uni- 
versity had  a  definite  end  in  view.  They  wanted  a  certain  manu- 
factured article,  as  it  were,  and  that  article  was  practical,  well  balanced 
men  and  women  after  having  been  given  the  highest  university  train- 
ing in  their  several  pursuits  and  professions  in  life.  If  this  work  is 
done  right  and  the  product  in  its  service  among  the  people  is  satis- 
factory, and  answers  the  requirements  of  practical  life,  then  will  the 
people  be  mightily  pleased  and  continue  to  express  their  approval  of 
the  administration  and  its  policies. 

The  Board  of  Trustees  should  therefore  be  constantly  sensitive  to 
the  wants  of  the  people  in  educational  subjects  and  call  to  its  assistance 
those  instructors  and  professors,  and  especially  a  President,  who  are 


(433) 


124 

in  hearty  svmpathv  with  the  demands  of  the  people  and  who  are  able 
to  devise  means  by  which  the  work  can  best  be  accomplished. 

The  relations  of  the  President  and  the  Board  are  intimate  and 
mutual.  They  are  bound  to  work  together  to  an  agreed  end.  They 
are  bound  to  believe  in  the  work  of  the  University  as  prescribed  in  the 
fundamental  law,  and  endeavor  to  constantly  and  systematically 
promote  the  work  of  the  University  in  loyal  support  of  the  statute. 
The  Board  has  certain  great  responsibilities.  The  President  should 
share  the  work  these  responsibilities  impose  but  should  not  assume 
them.  Bv  assuming  them  the  President  cannot  lessen  them  for  the 
Trustees.  The  Trustees  cannot  release  themselves  of  their  responsi- 
bilities by  requiring  the  President  to  assume  them.  Nor  should  the 
Board  presume  to  take  upon  itself  the  duties  of  the  President.  When- 
ever it  does  so  it  fails  of  its  purpose  and  creates  confusion. 

The  same  law  which  creates  the  Board  of  Trustees  and  defines  its 
duties  and  powers  describes  also  the  duties  of  the  President.  There- 
fore neither  may  trespass  legally  upon  the  duties  of  the  other.  Broadly 
speaking  the  duties  of  the  Board  are  initiatory  and  legislative.  It 
states  what  shall  be  done,  and  when.  It  provides  all  the  facilities  and 
equipments.  It  orders  expenditures  and  audits  and  pays  the  bills. 
It  regularly  returns  to  the  Legislature  and  to  the  people  with  the  report 
of  its  work  a  statement  of  the  results.  It  lays  before  them  what  is  yet 
to  be  done  and  by  what  means  it  may  best  be  done,  and  the  anticipated 
expense  of  it  all.  In  all  the  operations  of  the  Board  from  the  promulga- 
tion of  its  policies  to  its  report  to  the  people  the  most  important 
factor  is  the  presidency.  The  functions  of  the  President  in  his  relations 
to  the  Board  can  be  expressed  in  the  following  divisions. 

First,  he  is  the  educational  executive  of  the  Board  and  of  the  Uni- 
versity. He  takes  the  general  policies  adopted  by  the  Board  and  puts 
them  into  operation.  Details  are  to  be  devised  so  that  the  enactments 
of  the  Board  may  be  speedily  and  successfully  consummated.  He  keeps 
the  organization  in  continuous  operation  without  friction  or  undue 
loss  of  power.  If  parts  appear  to  be  weak  he  must  strengthen  them ; 
if  parts  break  they  must  be  mended  without  stopping  the  general 
movement  and  with  as  little  interruption  as  possible.  If  he  finds 
some  order  of  the  Board  unwise  and  impossible  of  successful  accom- 
plishment, he  must  make  the  most  of  it  in  a  fair,  honest  trial  till  the 
Board  is  convinced  of  its  futility  and  they  abandon  it.  If  funds  are 
inadequately  provided  he  must  permit  some  of  his  loved  projects  to 
be  pushed  aside  or  abandoned,  withal  keeping  a  cheerful  heart  and 
placid  face.  If  the  Board  persists  in  requiring  him  to  perform  duties 
which  no  man  can  do,  but  which  truly  belong  to  the  realm  of  divinity, 
he  must  keep  battering  away  at  it,  as  though  this  were  yet  the  day  of 
miracles  and  fearlessly  proclaim  the  fact  that  faith  will  remove  moun- 
tains and  cast  them  into  the  sea.     He  must  have  a  capacity  of  doing 

4 

(434) 


125 

hard  things  easily,  and  disagreeable  things  happily.  He  must  recog- 
nize at  once  where  the  cause  of  failure  is  in  anything  that  has  gone 
awry  and  have  the  skill  and  ability  to  quietly  and  successfully  remove 
it  without  a  surgeon's  knife  or  an  anesthetic.  He  must  know  how  to 
amicablv  discipline  an  insubordinate  instructor  without  alienating  the 
affection  of  his  friends  for  himself  and  to  appropriately  suspend  a 
delinquent  student  who  plays  on  the  football  team,  without  destroying 
the  athletic  fame  of  the  University. 

But  soberly,  the  Board  of  Trustees  expects  him  to  be  a  man  of 
great  executive  power,  frank,  openly  honest,  ready  to  accord  to  every 
one  the  chance  to  do  his  best,  sympathetic  with  both  teachers  and 
students  and  fearless  in  the  line  of  duty. 

The  Trustees  have  only  periodic  meetings  at  which  they  consider 
university  matters;  the  President  is  in  constant  contact  with  trying 
work  and  the  burden  of  responsibihty  falls  from  him  for  not  a  moment. 
Few  persons,  perhaps,  even  of  the  Trustees,  realize  the  amount  of 
-exacting  labor  and  protracted  alertness  which  sap  vitality  that  are 
necessitated  by  the  duties  of  the  presidency. 

Secondly,  he  is  the  educational  advisor  of  the  Board.  His  judg- 
ment must  be  sound,  his  reasoning  correct,  his  opinions  footed  on  the 
best  authority  and  his  plans  practicable.  He  must  inform  the  Board 
what  of  its  proposed  actions  are  vagaries  and  what  are  sound  poHcies. 
He  must  warn  of  danger,  when  all  seems  well.  At  the  dividing  of  the 
roads  he  must  interpret  the  sign  boards  faithfully,  whether  they  be  in 
Sanscrit  or  in  modern  English.  He  must  have  courageous  convic- 
tions about  salaries,  the  qualifications  of  instructors  and  the  methods 
of  promotions.  His  advice  must  be  faultless  upon  the  subject  of 
fraternities  and  strenuous  athletics.  In  other  words  he  must  keep 
the  Trustees  informed  of  all  the  educational  good  things  that  are  good, 
and  bad  things  that  are  bad.  The  situation  which  the  President  holds 
as  advisor  to  the  Board  was  expressed  by  a  member  a  short  time  ago 
in  this:  "  It  is  equal  to  a  liberal  education  to  be  an  active  member  of 
this  Board  a  few  years. " 

Thirdly,  the  President  is  the  Board's  educational  representative. 
The  Board's  duty  is  not  only  to  conduct  a  university  for  the  State,  but 
also  to  conduct  it  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  people.  There  must  be 
harmonv  of  opinion  between  the  people  and  the  Trustees.  If  the 
people  fail  to  advance  with  the  expanding  ideas  of  university  education, 
they  must  be  enlightened;  if  the  Trusteees  are  slow  to  establish  and 
promote  some  line  of  advanced  work  which  the  people  want,  the  Board 
must  be  prodded.  The  President  is  the  harmonizer.  He  is  the 
educational  educator.  His  insight  must  be  a  sort  of  barometer  which 
discloses  the  condition  of  the  atmosphere  and  then  he  must  lead  those 
to  higher  altitudes  whose  clouds  must  be  removed.  His  duty  includes 
his  being  a  pathfinder  for  the  people  in  educational  thought.     He 

(435) 


126 

must  break  the  way  to  better  things  and  patiently  help  all  to  an  under- 
standing of  what  the  best  is  in  scholarship,  in  citizenship,  in  duty  and 
in  life.  With  such  a  President  there  will  always  be  an  intelligent, 
able  and  responsible  Board  of  Trustees.  Their  responsibilities  are  not 
lessened,  but  are  most  pleasantly  performed.  Under  such  conditions 
the  institution  prospers,  its  work  enlarges,  its  scope  widens,  it  gains 
enthusiastic  friends  and  its  blessed  fruits  are  exceedingly  abundant. 


ADDRESS 


The  Honorable  Andrew  S.  Draper,  LL.D. 

Commissioner  of  Education  of  the  State  of  New  York,  Albany 

The  distinguished  presence,  the  impressive  procedure,  and  the 
function  and  purpose  of  this  great  University  convocation  are  surely 
sufficient  to  make  it  memorable.  Other  gatherings  for  the  discussion 
of  many  subjects  of  the  highest  import  to  higher  education  in  America> 
Jiave  been  associated  with  this  assemblage.  The  effort  to  accompany 
an  installation  with  an  educational  advance  has  been  distinct.  The 
gracious  attendance  of  the  representatives  of  many  American  and  of 
some  foriegn  universities  lends  very  substantial  assistance  to  this  effort. 
Taken  together,  the  exercises  may  rival  if  not  surpass  any  previous 
undertaking  in  the  interests  of  the  higher  learning  in  the  Mississippi 
Valley. 

Of  very  considerable  interest  to  all,  the  occasion  is  certainly  of  pro- 
found significance  to  this  University.  We  are  now  at  the  very  heart 
of  the  main  business  for  which  we  came  together.  We  are  taking  a 
step  of  the  very  first  magnitude  in  our  affairs.  We  are  conferring  a 
very  great  honor.  We  are  imposing  a  very  great  burden.  It  is 
through  the  bestowal  of  a  very  great  office.  We  are  come  not  merely 
to  ratify  an  appointment  or  to  deliver  keys,  but  to  give  to  a  new  leader 
the  expression  of  our  confidence  and  the  assurance  of  our  help.  We 
would  not  disguise  our  understanding  of  what  it  all  implies  to  him,  to 
us,  and  to  all  of  the  interests  of  this  institution.  We  would  invest 
this  occasion  with  all  seriousness.  With  solemnity  we  pledge  our 
support.  Realizing  both  the  need  and  the  meaning  of  it,  we  offer 
words  of  cheer  and  the  best  wishes  which  a  buoyant  and  expectant 
people  can  lay  at  the  feet  of  a  new  administration. 

This  is  not  the  day  for  reminiscence,  but  it  is  the  day  for  reflection, 
as  well  as  the  day  of  hope.  Rational  outlook  rests  upon  a  true  under- 
standing of  what  is  and  what  has  been.  In  university  building  the 
future  can  lift  high  its  turrets  only  upon  foundations  laid  sure  and  true. 
There  is  no  better  exemplification  of  American  spirit  anywhere  than  is 
found  in  the  history  of  this  University.  Without  any  aid  from  nature 
but  a  rich  soil,  without  a  single  helpful  feature  in  the  landscape,  upon 

(436) 


127 

almost  an  exact  plain,  without  hill,  or  tree,  or  rock,  or  river,  it  has 
made  a  campus  as  homelike  and  ennobling  as  any  one  of  us  has  seen. 
Without  building  materials  in  the  neighborhood,  it  has  erected  build- 
ings at  once  spacious  and  serviceable.  With  a  school  of  architecture 
of  its  own,  without  close  association  wdth  the  best  architecture  of  the 
world,  with  considerable  of  the  feeling  that  a  new  building  belonged  to 
an  architect  who  had  been  trained  by  the  University,  and  that  in 
time  every  graduate  in  architecture  ought  to  be  represented  by  a 
building,  it  has,  in  one  way  or  another,  which  need  not  be  specified 
here,  worked  out,  or  worried  out,  a  very  respectable  collection  of 
architectural  effects.  Located  between  and  across  the  borderline  of 
two  small  cities,  it  has  risen  above  their  rivalries,  made  them  useful 
suburbs,  and  given  them  a  useful  mission — even  the  housing  of  the 
people  of  a  universitv.  Started  in  an  environment  not  specially  con- 
ducive to  scholarly  pursuits,  it  has  developed  a  setting  which  is 
beginning  to  support  its  work  admirably.  Far  from  the  geographical 
or  popular  center  of  the  State,  it  has  overcome  distances  and  become 
a  conspicuous  spot  on  the  map  of  Illinois.  Without  a  large  city  to 
draw  upon  for  students,  even  beset  with  deep  prejudices  and  sharp 
rivalries,  it  has  filled  all  the  highways  with  happy  young  men  and 
maidens,  coming  to  or  going  from  its  work.  At  a  distance  from  large 
libraries  and  without  free  association  with  the  centers  of  scholarship, 
and  until  now  with  very  inadequate  support,  it  has  built  up  an  in- 
structional force  exceptionally  able  at  many  points  and  of  very 
satisfactory  average  strength.  Under  the  disadvantages  as  well  as 
the  advantages  of  a  popular  support  and  a  democratic  management, 
it  has  become  widely  celebrated  for  its  unparalleled  growth,  and  has 
fought  its  way  to  a  very  high  place  in  the  list  of  large  American  uni- 
versities. One  hundred  out  of  the  one  hundred  and  two  counties  of 
Illinois,  forty-three  other  states,  and  eight  foreign  countries  are  repre- 
sented in  its  student  body.  In  the  breadth  of  its  offerings  and  the 
measure  of  the  loftiness  of  its  ambitions  it  is  second  to  none.  When  it 
was  robbed  of  most  of  its  invested  and  much  of  its  operating  funds,  it 
succeeded  in  three  weeks — with  the  help  of  the  Legislature  and  Gov- 
ernor— in  converting  its  discomfiture  into  better  securities  than 
universities  ordinarily  have, — good,  five  per  cent,  everlasting  bonds  of 
the  commonwealth  of  Illinois.  Later  than  all  neighboring  state 
universities  in  getting  started,  and  exceedingly  slow  in  gaining 
moneyed  support,  it  has  at  last  won  the  genuine  pride  and  generous 
confidence  of  a  State  which  can  do  whatever  it  will, — for  which  all  of 
us  make  most  sincere  acknowledgments  in  the  hope  of  yet  larger 
favors  still  to  come.  Drawing  upon  other  universities  and  all  other 
sources  of  supply  for  all  it  can  get,  it  is  increasing  its  contributions  to 
the  scholarship  of  the  country  and  doing  more  than  was  ever  foreseen 
to  train  the  young  men  and  women  of  a  rich  and  imperial  State  to  the 

(437) 


128 

serious  business  of  making  the  most  of  themselves  through  intelHgent 
and  tiring  work  of  every  kind  and  through  a  rational  use  of  the  results 
of  commercial  and  industrial  prosperity. 

This  State  is  fortunate  in  that  its  State  University  and  its  Agri- 
cultural and  Mechanical  colleges  are  being  developed  together.  The 
work  of  each  supports  the  other.  It  is  producing  a  very  large  institu- 
tion, one  with  broad  foundations  and  innumerable  offerings.  With 
all  of  the  departments  here  where  there  is  small  need  of  physicians,  its 
medical  colleges  are  where  medical  men  are  most  in  demand  and  at 
the  largest  center  of  medical  education  in  the  world.  All  in  all,  it  is 
accumulating  students  with  a  rapidity  which  is  creating  a  responsi- 
bility beyond  compute. 

We  all  know  this,  but  it  is  well  to  express  it.  It  gives  us  strength. 
We  are  equal  to  it.  By  common  assent  and  intuitive  impulse  this 
institution  is  now  to  be  made  great  as  well  as  big.  The  state  university 
development  in  America  is  one  of  the  very  greatest  as  well  as  the  most 
surprising  movements  in  world  education.  It  is  the  logical  outgrowth 
of  the  democratic  advance.  Few  will  say  that  the  state  universities 
are  not  already  as  potential  as  the  universities  which  have  preceded 
them.  In  opportunities  to  serve  a  people  through  the  applications  of 
learning  to  diversified  life,  as  well  as  in  the  aspiration  and  the  strength 
to  make  that  service  great,  they  are  ranking  university  operations 
everywhere.  Illinois  expects  to  lag  behind  no  other  state  in  the 
generosity  and  the  intelligence  of  her  doing  for  the  higher  learning. 
She  provides  the  means  and  calls  the  best  men  she  can  get  for  her 
service.  Then  she  wants  a  new  advance.  She  will  not  temporize 
with  opportunity.  She  will  not  tolerate  excuses.  She  will  go  for- 
ward. With  profound  regard  for  all  the  states  around  her,  with  the 
warmest  appreciation  of  the  aid  she  is  getting  from  other  universities, 
and  the  most  unqualified  assurances  of  reciprocity,  the  key  note  of 
this  great  week  at  the  University  of  Illinois  sounds  a  decided  advance 
to  higher  and  stronger  ground. 

One  who  has  the  gifts  and  the  strength  to  lead  this  advance  is  to 
be  envied  the  opportunity.  I  wish  I  could  compound  the  thinking 
and  express  the  reflections  and  the  hopefulness  of  us  all.  The  sug- 
gestions born  of  my  thinking  and  my  experience  which  bear  upon 
this  hour  and  the  future  of  this  University  are  in  these  plain  and 
fundamental,  briefly  stated  propositions: 

Serve  the  commonwealth  of  Illinois,  not  only  in  her  industries,  but 
in  her  political  theories  and  practices,  in  rearing  noble  ideals  of  true 
culture  and  in  strengthening  her  conception  of  the  moral  obligations 
of  such  a  people.  Do  it  when  sure  of  your  ground,  even  though  it 
involves  the  saying  of  some  things  which,  at  the  moment,  many  of  her 
people  may  not  like  to  hear. 

Aid  every  educational  activity,  whether   public    school  or  parish 

(438) 


129 

school  or  proprietary  school,  whether  endowed  college  or  professional 
school,  or  private  or  public  library,  or  study  club,  or  whatever  else  it 
may  be,  if  it  has  the  purpose  of  enlarging  knowledge  or  extending 
culture  in  or  out  of  the  schools.  Be  true  to  everv  other  university. 
Never  forget  that  meanness  defeats  itself.  In  education  the  way  to 
get  rich  is  through  enriching  others. 

Bring  to  this  University  the  best  scholars  who  can  be  procured  in 
any  part  of  the  world.  There  are  no  artificial  barriers  and  no  political 
boundaries  in  the  democracy  of  learning.  Pav  what  you  have  to  pay 
in  order  to  have  the  best  instruction  in  the  countrv.  This  is  one  of 
the  leading  things  for  which  the  last  administration  was  disposed  to 
give  way  to  the  new  one.  The  old  one  could  have  gone  on  in  the  old 
way.  It  was  believed  that  a  new  leader  could  take  some  important 
steps  more  surely  than  the  old  one.  If  not  taken,  an  opportunity  will 
be  lost.  He  is  here  to  fill  the  gap  of  opportunity  to  the  full.  Let  the 
fact  be  established  and  let  the  country  come  to  know  that  no  more 
new  truth  is  likely  to  be  dug  out  anywhere,  and  no  better  instruction 
provided  anywhere,  than  at  the  University  of  Illinois. 

Develop  young  men  in  the  faculties  by  giving  them  their  oppor- 
tunities ;  and  assure  them  just  credit  for  all  the  work  they  do.  Do  not 
stunt  them  by  letting  them  think  that  they  are  so  very  much  larger 
than  they  really  are. 

Enter  into  student  sympathies  and  share  student  outlook.  Brace 
up  the  timid  and  the  hesitating.  Find  ways  to  put  surplus  energies 
to  useful  ends.  Give  all  plenty  of  good  work  to  do.  Forgive  the 
ones  who  are  a  trifle  too  active  but  not  so  very  bad.  Let  the  vicious 
know  that  there  is  no  place  for  viciousness  in  the  affairs  of  a  university. 
Command  the  situation  through  the  stirring  of  sentiment,  through  the 
development  of  opinion,  and  through  reliance  upon  that  moral  sense 
which  in  the  last  analysis  is  always  overwhelming  in  a  university 
crowd. 

Let  justice  and  sense  stand,  whoever  falls.  Let  there  be  a  day  in 
court  for  all.  Be  as  just  to  a  student  when  a  teacher  is  at  fault  as  to  a 
teacher  when  a  student  is  in  trouble. 

Fight  for  absolute  cleanness.  Insist  that  everything  shall  comport 
with  the  purposes  of  such  an  institution.  Demand  that  everyone  in 
the  service  shall  have  undivided  devotion  to  the  work  which  he 
undertakes.  Avoid  expenditures  which  do  not  commend  themselves 
to  the  good  sense  of  sane  and  experienced  men.  Reject  all  extrava- 
gances. When  money  is  expended  see  that  a  dollar  buys  the  value 
of  a  dollar.  Stand  for  nothing  until  convinced;  shrink  from  nothing 
merely  because  personal  interests  are  in  the  way. 

Mr.  President,  administer  your  splendid  estate,  and  execute  the 
high  purpose  for  which  this  great  aggregation  of  material  things  and 
of  intellectual  and  moral  forces  is  maintained.     Do  it  without  fear  or 

(439) 


130 

favor,  without  thinking  much  of  the  hazards  or  of  the  compensations, 
and  the  people  of  the  commonwealth  of  Illinois,  and  the  Almighty 
God,  will  take  care  of  you. 

The  real  growth  and  strength  of  this  University  have  hardly 
appeared.  The  future  will  overshadow  the  past.  Hearts,  minds, 
money,  boundless  energy,  the  public  interests  and  the  common  pride 
are  all  enlisted  to  carry  the  University  of  Illinois  to  a  place  of  the  very 
first  significance  in  American  education.  All  that  is  wanted  is  a 
scholarly,  a  sane,  and  a  fearless  leadership.  If  one  cannot  supply  it, 
another  will.  With  one  accord  we  think  we  have  found  the  man  who 
can. 

I  am  transferring  to  him  not  only  a  title  but  an  opportunity;  not 
only  an  office  but  my  hope  and  mv  confidence  that  he  may  enlarge  it. 
I  did  not  impair  this  office ;  it  is  a  greater  office  than  it  used  to  be.  It  is 
as  precious  a  thing  as  I  shall  ever  have  to  give.  Before  I  could  trans- 
fer it  with  cheerfulness  and  with  confidence  there  has  been  need  to 
think  more  deeply  than  have  many  others  of  the  needs  of  the  situation 
here  and  in  another  state,  and  of  the  adaptation  of  men  to  differing 
work.  My  attachments  are  no  stronger  there  than  here.  The  decision 
came  out  of  a  mental  process  which  has  tried  out  feeling  and  broken 
some  strings.  The  new  President  has  been  an  all-important  factor 
in  the  case.  But  I  am  ready.  The  attributes  of  the  new  leader  give 
me  confidence  and  the  universal  acclaim  makes  me  know  that  all  is 
well. 

A  true  son  of  Illinois;  with  the  fine  lineage  of  her  best  pioneers; 
with  native  pride  in  her  history;  with  scholarly  appreciation  of  her 
resources  and  of  her  intellectual  development;  with  a  mature  and 
balanced  understanding  of  her  needs,  as  well  as  with  patriotic  enthu- 
siasm for  all  that  may  uplift  her;  a  severe  student,  trained  in  the  best 
schools  of  the  world;  a  virile  teacher;  a  publicist  of  wide  reputation; 
an  experienced  and  trenchant  administrator:  we  envy  him  the  gifts 
and  the  opportunity  which  will  let  him  impress  lives,  shape  ends, 
weave  his  name  into  the  history  of  this  University,  and  add  to  the 
greatness  of  his  State ;  and  we  give  him  all  the  cheer  that  can  spring 
out  of  song,  with  all  the  sincerity  that  can  breathe  through  prayer. 


(440) 


131 
INAUGURAL  ADDRESS 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  THE  STATE  UNIVERSITY 

Edmund  J.  James,  Ph.D.,  LL.D. 

President  of  the  University 

The  University  of  Illinois  owes  its  foundation  to  the  initiative  of 
the  federal  government  of  the  United  States. 

The  celebrated  Morrill  Land  Grant  Act  of  July  2,  1862,  provided 
that  each  state  in  the  Union  should  be  granted  thirty  thousand  acres 
of  land  for  each  senator  and  representative  to  which  the  state  was 
entitled  in  the  federal  Congress,  for  the  establishment  and  support  "of 
at  least  one  college,  whose  leading  object  shall  be  (without  excluding 
other  scientific  and  classical  studies,  and  including  militarv  tactics) 
to  teach  such  branches  of  learning  as  are  related  to  agriculture  and 
the  mechanic  arts,  *  *  *  {^  order  to  promote  the  liberal  and 
practical  education  of  the  industrial  classes  in  the  several  pursuits 
and  professions  of  life.  " 

This  has  turned  out  to  be  one  of  the  most  magnificent  endowments 
of  higher  education  ever  made  by  any  government,  church  or  individ- 
ual, whether  we  have  regard  to  its  immediate  effects  in  leading  to  the 
establishment  of  the  particular  institutions  contemplated  in  the  act, 
or  to  its  remoter  effects  in  further  increasing  and  stimulating  state 
benevolences  for  this  same  general  purpose. 

As  the  result  of  the  said  grant,  at  least  one  institution  correspond- 
ing to  the  above  description  has  been  established  in  each  state  and 
territory  in  the  Union.  There  are  now  more  than  forty -nine  in  all! 
The  states  have  in  nearly  every  instance  contributed  to  the  further 
endowment  of  these  colleges  in  the  form  of  permanent  funds  or  what 
is  practically  the  same  thing,  in  the  form  of  permanent  annual  appro- 
priations, exceeding,  and  in  some  cases  far  exceeding,  the  amount 
given  by  the  federal  government  itself. 

In  some  instances  the  new  college  was  incorporated  in,  or  annexed 
to,  some  existing  institution.  In  others  it  was  made  an  entirely  inde- 
pendent institution  limited  to  instruction  in  agriculture  and  the 
mechanic  arts.  In  still  others  it  became  the  nucleus  of  a  great  state 
university,  with  all  the  departments  properh^  belonging  to  an  insti- 
tution which  may  justly  lay  claim  to  that  time-honored  name. 

This  was  the  case  in  Illinois.  The  proceeds  of  the  sale  of  this 
original  land  grant  constitute  an  endowment  fund  providing  about 
thirty-two  thousand  dollars  a  year  for  the  support  of  the  institution. 

In  1887  the  federal  government  passed  an  act  known  as  the  Hatch 
Act,  providing  an  appropriation  of  fifteen  thousand  dollars  a  year,  to 
each  state  in  the  Union,  for  the  establishment  and  support  of  an  agri- 

(441) 


132 

cultural  experiment  station.  This,  in  the  State  of  Illinois,  was  made 
a  department  of  the  State  University. 

In  1890,  by  what  is  known  as  the  second  Morrill  Act,  the  federal 
government  appropriated  an  additional  sum  of  fifteen  thousand 
dollars  a  year,  to  be  increased  by  one  thousand  dollars  annually  until 
it  reached  the  sum  of  twenty-five  thousand  dollars  a  year,  for  the 
further  endowment  of  colleges  of  agriculture  and  mechanic  arts, 
founded  on  the  act  of  1862.  This  sum,  in  Illinois,  was  naturally  also 
turned  over  to  the  State  University,  so  that,  by  these  various  federal 
acts,  the  University  of  Illinois  now  receives,  either  directly  or  indirect- 
ly from  the  federal  government,  about  seventy-three  thousand  dollars 
a  year,  to  be  applied  in  the  maintenance  of  an  agricultural  experiment 
station,  and  the  colleges  of  agriculture  and  mechanic  arts. 

The  State  of  Illinois  has  added  largely  to  this  sum  of  seventy-three 
thousand  dollars  for  the  support  of  these  two  enterprises.  The  last 
Legislature,  for  example,  appropriated  four  hundred  thousand  dollars 
per  annum  for  the  support  of  these  departments,  or  more  than  five  times 
as  much  as  the  federal  government.  In  addition  it  also  appropriated  con- 
siderable sums  for  the  support  of  other  departments  which,  although  not 
mentioned  specifically  in  the  Land  Grant  Act  of  1 862 ,  were  contemplated 
by  the  words  "not  excluding  other  scientific  and  classical  subjects.  " 

In  other  words,  the  State  of  Illinois  has  not  only  applied  conscien- 
tiously to  the  purposes  of  the  federal  act  all  the  funds  which  the  Con- 
gress has  provided,  but  it  has  actually  appropriated  five  times  as 
much  for  these  same  purposes  as  the  federal  government  itself.  In 
addition  it  has  provided  for  the  other  departments  necessary  to  trans- 
form the  original  college  of  Agriculture  and  the  Mechanic  Arts  into  a 
full-fledged  university  of  the  modern  type. 

The  comparatively  small  sums  thus  appropriated  by  the  federal 
government  has  led  in  the  sequel  to  the  expenditure  of  ten  times  as 
much  for  higher  education  by  the  State  of  Illinois.  The  other  states 
have  followed  in  the  same  general  path,  so  that  it  is  doubtful  whether  a 
similar  expenditure  of  funds  to  that  made  by  the  federal  government 
on  this  occasion  ever  led  to  proportionately  greater  returns  for  higher 
education,  in  the  history  of  any  time  or  country. 

The  University  of  Illinois  has  become  the  largest  of  the  institutions 
which  owe  their  origin  to  this  federal  grant.  Opened  for  work  on 
March  2,  1868,  with  fewer  than  one  hundred  students,  its  growth  for 
the  first  twenty  years  was  very  slow,  as  the  State  at  first  declined  to 
give  very  largely  in  addition  to  the  federal  grant.  Indeed,  it  seemed 
inclined  for  a  time  to  limit  the  institution  strictly  to  the  work  of  a 
college  of  agriculture  and  mechanic  arts,  in  the  narrowest  sense,  as  was 
indicated  by  the  name  first  selected  for  it,  namely,  "  Illinois  Industrial 
University,"  and  by  the  refusal  of  the  Legislature  to  do  more  than 
apply  in  good  faith  the  proceeds  of  the  federal  grant  to  its  support. 

(442) 


133 

But  about  the  year  1887  a  new  spirit  became  manifest.  The  Hatch 
Act,  furnishing  additional  funds  for  the  support  of  scientific  work  in 
the  domain  of  agriculture,  seems  to  have  been  potent  in  stimulating 
this  new  attitude.  As  a  result  of  the  activity  of  the  alumni  and  of 
other  friends  of  higher  education  in  the  State,  the  Legislature  was 
prevailed  upon  to  change  the  name  to  the  "University  of  Illinois." 

What  is  in  a  name ?  Sometimes  much,  and  so  it  was  here.  Giving 
this  name — the  University  of  Illinois — to  the  institution,  if  not  at  that 
time  an  indication  of  a  conscious  change  of  purpose  on  the  part  of  the 
people  of  this  State,  powerfully  helped,  at  any  rate,  in  working  out 
this  change  of  purpose  and  bringing  it  to  the  public  consciousness. 

It  did  not,  of  course,  immediately  produce  large  results,  and  even 
so  late  as  1890  the  Faculty  of  the  school  numbered  only  thirty-five, 
and  the  student  body,  four  hundred  and  eighteen.  Since  that  time, 
partly  as  a  result  of  the  impetus  given  by  the  second  Morrill  Act  of 
1890;  partly  as  a  result  of  the  changed  attitude  on  the  part  of  the 
State  toward  the  institution,  evidenced,  even  though  unconsciously, 
in  this  change  of  name;  still  more,  perhaps,  as  a  result  of  that  marvel- 
ous increase  of  popular  interest  in  higher  education  manifested 
throughout  the  country  in  the  last  fifteen  years;  the  Legislature  of 
Illinois  has  became  more  and  more  liberal  in  its  appropriations,  en- 
abling the  institution  to  approximate  with  an  ever-increasing  rapidity 
toward  the  ideal  expressed  in  its  name,  "The  University  of  the  State 
of  Illinois. " 

The  increase  in  the  attendance  and  in  the  instructing  body  has  been 
remarkable.  The  Faculty  has  grown  to  number  nearly  four  hundred 
and  the  total  number  of  matriculants  in  all  departments  for  the 
present  year  will  probably  reach  four  thousand. 

This  rapid  increase  has  been  partly  the  result  of  adding  new  colleges 
— in  some  cases  existing  colleges  with  an  honorable  histor}^  and  a  con- 
siderable attendance,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Colleges  of  Medicine  and 
Dentistry — and  partly  the  result  of  increased  attendance  in  the  older 
departments. 

To  the  original  colleges  of  Agriculture  and  Mechanic  Arts,  contem- 
plated in  the  first  act  (including  engineering  and  architecture),  have 
been  added  the  colleges  of  Liberal  Arts,  of  Science,  of  Law,  of  Medicine 
and  Dentistry,  and  the  schools  of  Music,  of  Library  Science,  of  Pharm- 
acy and  of  Education. 

In  the  College  of  Liberal  Arts  and  the  Graduate  School  connected 
with  it,  are  included  the  ordinary  subjects  of  instruction  embraced  in  the 
modem  university  so  far  as  they  are  not  included  in  the  other  schools 
and  colleges  mentioned,  except  those  belonging  to  a  theological  school. 

Associated  with  the  University  are,  besides  the  Agricultural  Exper- 
iment Station  already  mentioned,  che  Engineering  Experiment  Station 
(the  first  of  the  kind  in  the  country) ;  the  State  Geological  Survey ; 

(443) 


134 

the  State  Laboratory  of  Natural  History;  the  State  Entomologist's 
office  and  the  State  Water  Survey. 

Such  is  the  University  now.  What  is  to  be  its  future  ?  At  the  risk 
of  incurring  the  fate  of  a  prophet  I  will  undertake  to  forecast  the 
future  of  this  institution  to  a  limited  extent;  and  I  do  it  with  more 
confidence  because  the  history  of  other  state  institutions  has  already 
indicated  some  of  the  things  in  store  for  us — institutions  in  whose 
footsteps  we  are  sure  to  follow,  and  if  at  first  longo  intervallo  yet  with 
increasing  determination  to  press  them  ever  harder  in  all  those  things 
which  pertain  to  a  true  university. 

I  take  it  first  of  all,  then,  that  this  institution  is  to  be  and  to  become 
in  an  ever  truer  sense,  a  university.  That,  I  presume,  has  been  settled 
once  for  all  by  the  people  of  this  State.  It  was  settled,  even  though 
unconsciously,  when  the  word  "industrial"  was  stricken  out  of  the 
title,  leaving  it  simply  "University  of  Illinois" — by  no  means  the  first 
time  that  the  subtraction  of  a  word  from  an  expression  has  indicated 
an  addition  to  the  meaning. 

It  has  been  settled  anew  at  each  successive  session  of  the  Legislature, 
as  by  one  increase  after  another  in  the  appropriations  the  representa- 
tives of  the  people  in  the  general  assembly  have  set  the  seal  of  their 
approval  on  the  large  and  wise  policy  of  the  Trustees. 

It  has  been  settled  by  the  ever-increasing  purpose  of  the  great  mass 
of  the  people  of  this  State,  the  plain  people  of  the  farm  and  the  mill, 
of  the  country,  the  village  and  the  city,  to  build  here  a  monument 
which  will  be  to  them  and  their  children  an  honor  and  a  glory  forever, 
an  evidence  which  all  the  world  can  see  and  understand,  of  their  cor- 
porate appreciation  of  the  things  of  the  spirit. 

What  then  is  a  university — that  which  this  institution  is  to  be  and 
become? 

Men  of  different  nations  and  dift'erent  times  would  give  different 
answers  to  this  question.  Nay,  men  of  the  same  nation  and  of  the 
same  time  would  give  different  answers.  In  fact  so  different  would  be 
the  answer  given  by  different  men  in  the  United  States  at  the  present 
time,  that  one  might  well  wonder  whether  there  is  any  common  agree- 
ment as  to  what  a  university  really  is. 

I  must,  therefore,  answer  this  question  for  myself,  for  this  time, 
and  this  place,  and  this  institution  without,  however,  reflecting  in 
any  wav  upon  what  other  institutions  bearing  this  name  are  or  may 
become.  I  believe  that  the  system  of  institutions  which  shall  satisfy 
the  educational  demands  of  a  nation  like  this  must  embrace  higher 
institutions — universities  if  you  will — of  many  different  types.  In 
sketching  out  the  future  of  the  University  of  Illinois,  therefore,  I  do  so 
with  due  regard  to  the  fact  that  we  have  in  this  State  important  and 
valuable  institutions  of  an  entirely  different  type  whose  work  the 
University  of  Illinois  will  thus  supplement  and  complete. 

(444) 


135 

I  should  define  a  university  briefly  as  that  institution  of  the  com- 
munity which  affords  the  ultimate  institutional  training  of  the  youth 
of  the  country  for  all  the  various  callings  for  which  an  extensive 
scientific  training,  based  upon  adequate  liberal  preparation,  is  valu- 
able and  necessary.  You  will  note  the  elements  in  this  definition.  By 
virtue  of  the  function  thus  assigned  to  it,  it  is  in  a  certain  sense  the 
highest  educational  institution  of  the  community.  It  is  the  institu- 
tion which  furnishes  a  special,  professional,  technical  training  for  some 
particular  calling.  This  special,  technical,  professional  training  must, 
however,  be  scientific  in  character,  and  must  be  based  upon  adequate 
preliminarv  preparation  of  a  liberal  sort. 

By  this  requirement  of  a  liberal  preparatory  training,  the  university 
is  differentiated  from  the  technical  school  or  trade  school  of  secondary 
grade.  By  the  scientific  character  of  its  training,  it  is  differentiated 
from  a  mere  preparatory  "cram"  school  for  public  examinations; 
such  as  were  so  many  of  our  private  professional  schools  down  to  a 
recent  date. 

There  are  certain  things,  then,  which  must  mark  this  institution 
in  order  to  make  it  a  true  university.  The  most  striking  peculiarity 
is  the  scientific  character  of  the  training  which  it  affords.  A  considera- 
tion of  this  feature — for  to  my  mind  it  is  the  fundamental  and  dis- 
tinguishing quality  of  the  university-  -may  properly  delay  us  for  a 
moment.  There  are  many  ways  in  which  a  man  may  be  prepared  for 
a  profession.  He  may  have  no  school  training  whatever  of  a  special 
or  professional  kind.  Having  acquired  a  knowledge  of  the  elements 
of  learning,  he  may  be  thrust  directly  into  the  practice  of  a  profession 
in  order  to  learn  "by  doing."  This  has  been  characteristic  of  most 
of  our  professional  work  in  this  country  down  to  within  a  recent  date. 
But  even  when  schools  have  been  organized  to  afford  such  training, 
they  may  still  be  of  very  different  kinds.  Thus  they  may  be  merely 
institutions  to  purvey  what  is  already  known  in  the  profession,  their 
purpose  being  to  fill  the  minds  of  their  pupils  with  knowledge  of  what 
at  present  is  known  about  the  subject  in  hand;  perhaps  to  enable  them 
to  pass  a  state  examination  which  may  be  prescribed  in  this  particular 
field,  or  to  pass  a  university  examination  set  for  the  purpose  of  testing 
one's  knowledge  rather  than  one's  power. 

A  school  may,  on  the  other  hand,  be  organized  on  the  theory  that 
the  best  way  to  prepare  a  man  for  practical  duties  of  a  profession, 
so  far  as  it  can  be  done  in  school,  is  to  train  him  to  V)e  an  independent 
investigator  in  the  domain  appropriate  to  the  profession.  Thus,  from 
this  point  of  view,  the  best  way  to  prepare  a  man  for  a  professorship 
in  mathematics  would  be  to  train  him  in  mathematics  in  such  a  way 
and  to  such  a  point  that  he  might  have  a  power  of  independent  judg- 
ment in  the  domain  of  mathematical  problems;  that  in  an  independent 
way  he  might  discover  the  possible  mathematical  problems  for  him- 

(445) 


136 

self  and  be  equipped  to  handle  them  one  after  the  other  as  he  might 
have  occasion  or  opportunity  to  take  them  up.  In  the  same  way  the 
best  training  for  a  lawyer  or  a  judge  would  be  such  a  training  in  che 
science  of  law  as  would  enable  him  to  have  a  power  of  independent 
judgment  on  any  legal  question  he  might  meet,  such  as  would  qualify 
him  to  take  up  with  entire  freedom  and  with  a  feeling  of  abilitv  the 
investigation  of  any  topic  which  might  come  before  him. 

It  is  this  latter  idea  which  imderlies  the  German  university  and 
the  German  professional  school.  According  to  the  idea  of  the  Ger- 
mans the  way  to  prepare  a  man  to  become  a  professional  chemist  is 
not  to  load  him  down  with  all  the  knowledge  of  chemistry  which  the 
world  has  thus  far  accumulated,  though  such  an  acquisition  under 
certain  circumstances  may  be  valuable,  but  to  train  him  in  the  field  of 
chemistry  in  such  a  way  as  to  make  him  an  independent  investigator 
— one  who  will  be  qualified  to  meet  any  chemical  problem  coming  up 
in  the  course  of  chemical  work.  In  the  same  way,  to  prepare  a  man 
to  be  a  professor  of  history  is  not,  according  to  the  German  idea,  to 
fill  him  up  with  the  knowledge  of  all  historical  facts,  for  such  facts 
have  already  passed,  in  their  multiutde  and  magnitude,  beyond  the 
power  of  any  man  to  grasp,  even  that  of  a  von  Ranke;  but  to  give  the 
man  a  historic  sense,  or  at  least  to  awaken  it  in  him  (for  if  he  has  it  not 
it  would  be  difficult  to  create  it  entirely  anew),  to  develop  his  critical 
spirit,  to  qualify  him  to  take  up  the  investigation  of  any  particular 
historic  problem  in  such  a  way  that  when  he  has  finished  his  investi- 
gation the  last  word  will  have  been  said,  so  far  as  the  existing  material 
will  permit. 

In  addition  to  this,  the  purpose  of  the  professional  school  should  be 
not  merely  to  qualify  the  student  to  do  this  kind  of  research,  but  to 
inspire  him  with  an  ambition  actually  to  do  this  kind  of  work  to  the 
extent  of  his  ability,  whatever  the  position  to  which  he  should  be 
called. 

I  do  not  know  to  what  extent  this  peculiarity  in  the  conception  of 
a  true  professional  school  may  explain  the  leadership  which  Germany 
enjoys  today  in  the  world  of  science  and  scholarship,  that  is  to  what 
extent  this  peculiarity  in  their  educational  system  has  produced  this 
thirst  for  scholarship  and  learning,  or  to  what  extent  their  natural 
thirst  for  scholarship  and  learning  has  worked  out  this  peculiar  device 
for  stimulating  such  a  spirit.  Whichever  may  be  true,  I  think  we 
must  allow  that  in  this  particular  quality  the  German  university 
surpasses  those  of  the  rest  of  the  world. 

They  carry  this  thought  much  further  in  Germany  than  in  any 
other  country.  No  man  is  allowed  to  teach,  even  in  a  secondarv  school 
of  the  first  grade,  who  has  not  come  under  the  influence  of  the  theory 
and  practice  of  this  sort  of  a  professional  school.  And  while  the  Ger- 
man universities,  judged  from  an  American  point  of  view,  have  many 

(446) 


137 

defects,  this  is  certainly  one  of  their  strongest  points,  and  one  which, 
if  we  can  in  any  way  secure  for  ourselves,  in  our  own  institutions, 
would  be  a  great  advantage  to  us. 

^  It  goes  without  the  saying  that  in  such  an  institution  as  we  are 
outlining  the  faculty  will  consist  of  men  and  women  who  w411  have 
developed  this  quality  of  scholarship,  this  idea  of  learning,  this  notion 
of  productive  work  in  the  field  of  scientific  investigation  and  research. 
It  cannot  be  anything  else  and  accomplish  the  ends  we  have  in  view. 
Now,  of  course,  there  is  a  long  road  to  travel  between  our  present 
situation  in  this  respect  and  that  time  when,  judged  from  this  point  of 
view,  we  shall  be  a  true  university.  I  say  a  long  road,  but  it  w411  be 
covered,  I  fully  believe,  in  a  comparatively  short  time;  for  the  idea  of 
this  advance  has  already  permeated  this  body  of  instructors,  has 
touched  with  its  dynamic  force  every  aspiring  soul  in  the  group  and 
will  in  the  long  run  leave  no  individual  untouched,  and  will  leave  no 
person  unaspiring. 

What  this  spirit,  if  it  could  become  general,  would  mean  for  our 
scientific  advance  as  a  nation,  w'hat  it  would  mean  for  our  industrial 
improvement,  surpasses  almost  the  power  of  the  human  mind  to  con- 
ceive. Suppose  every  one  of  our  high  school  teachers  in  this  country 
had  had  a  university  training  in  the  sense  in  which  I  am  using  the 
term,  so  that  when  he  goes  into  a  community  and  begins  his  work  of 
instruction  there  also  goes  into  that  community  a  new  power,  a  new 
force,  being  itself  first  of  all  productive,  and  then  aiming  to  select 
from  that  community  the  young  minds  which  may  have  it  in  them  to 
add  to  the  power  and  resources,  to  the  wealth,  moral,  intellectual  and 
material,  of  their  communities,  and  kindle  in  them  the  sacred  flame  of 
aspiration,  as  only  the  genuine  fire  of  scientific  enthusiasm  can  kindle 
it.  Suppose  every  student  who  goes  forth  from  this  chemical  labor- 
atory should  carry  with  him  the  power  and  the  determination  to  add 
something  to  our  knowledge  of  chemistry,  what  an  addition  to  the 
industrial  resources  of  this  country!  It  would  mean  more  than  the 
annexation  of  many  fertile  islands  beyond  the  sea,  and  would  cost  far 
less. 

In  brief,  then,  this  institution  must  become,  in  all  departments  of 
professional  life,  a  great  center  of  scientific  research  and  investigation, 
and  must  become  so,  if  for  no  other  reason,  because  the  professional 
training  itself  cannot  be  of  the  highest  type  unless  it  be  given  by  men 
who  are  qualified  for  and  eager  for  scientific  eflfortj 

This  University  will  include  within  itself  not  merely  the  old  pro- 
fessions— law,  medicine,  teaching — but  will  include  scientific  prepara- 
cion  for  any  department  of  our  community  life,  for  the  successful 
prosecution  of  which  an  extensive  scientific  training  of  this  kind  is 
desirable  or  necessary.  We  shall  add,  therefore,  from  time  to  time 
schools  or  colleges  which  will  take  care  of  these  new  professions  as  they 

(447) 


138 

may  appear.  We  have  already  begun  with  the  profession  of  engi- 
neering in  all  its  various  forms — mechanical,  civil,  electrical,  sanitary, 
chemical,  etc.,  the  profession  of  architecture  and  the  profession  of 
farming.  The  next  to  be  entered  upon  in  a  large  and  satisfactory 
wav  is  the  profession  of  business.  Some  of  these  newer  callings  are, 
of  course,  quite  different  in  their  character,  and  will  call  for  a  quite 
different  kind  of  training  from  that  of  the  old  so-called  learned  pro- 
fessions. It  will  hardly  be  possible  to  turn  through  the  halls  of  our 
universities,  even  though  they  be  multiplied  manv  fold,  all  those  who 
expect  to  enter  in  one  capacity  or  another  the  great  world  of  business. 
And  for  many  a  long  day  to  come  the  great  geniuses  in  this  department 
will  probably  be  men  who  have  had  no  university  training;  for  the 
"wind  bloweth  where  it  listeth"  and  many  a  genius  will  sprout  and 
bud  and  flower  in  this  domain  who  has  not  seen  even  the  outside  walls 
of  a  preparatory  school  or  college  or  university.  But  we  have  already 
reached  the  time  when  the  subject  matter  relating  to  the  world  of 
business  has  a  content  which  is  susceptible  of  scientific  treatment,  the 
study  of  which,  under  proper  conditions,  mav  become  a  valuable 
element  in  the  preparation  for  business.  The  time  has  come,  there- 
fore, when  the  college  of  commerce  should  be  one  of  the  constituent 
colleges  of  the  university. 

So  I  expect  to  see  this  institution  increase  the  number  and  quality 
of  its  professional  schools  as  the  years  go  on,  until  it  will  have  devel- 
oped into  a  full-fledged  university  of  the  broadest  scope,  capable  of 
answering  to  the  multiform  needs  of  a  great  commonwealth. 

In  a  word,  this  institution  will  most  fully  perform  its  duty  to  the 
people  of  this  State  if  it  will  stand  simply,  plainly,  unequivocally  and 
uncompromisingly  for  training  for  vocation,  not  training  for  leisure — • 
not  even  for  scholarship  per  se,  except  as  scholarship  is  ?.  necessary 
incident  to  all  proper  training  of  a  higher  sort  for  vocation,  or  may  be 
a  vocation  itself,  but  training  to  perform  an  efficient  service  for  society 
in  and  through  some  calling  in  which  a  man  expresses  himself  and 
through  which  he  works  out  some  lasting  good  to  society.  Such 
training  for  vocation  should  naturally,  and  would  inevitably,  if  the 
training  were  of  the  proper  sort,  result  in  the  awakening  of  such 
ideals  of  service  as  would  permeate,  refine  and  elevate  the  character 
of  the  student.  It  would  make  him  a  scholar  and  investigator,  a 
thinker,  a  patriot — an  educated  gentleman. 

It  is  apparent  to  any  one  who  knows  the  present  condition  of  the 
University,  and  for  that  matter  of  any  of  our  American  universities,  that 
such  a  conception  as  this  calls  for  a  continued  growth  at  the  top  and  a 
lopping  oft'  at  the  bottom.  In  other  words,  it  requires  an  increasing 
standard  of  admission  to  the  university,  and  an  extension  of  the  scien- 
tific character  and  quality  of  the  work  done  inside  of  the  university. 
And  this  development  I  consider  will  be  as  inevitable  as  the  ebb  and 

(448) 


139 

flow  of  the  tides.  My  own  idea  is  that  the  university  ought  not  to  be 
engaged  in  secondary  work  at  all ;  and  by  secondary  work  I  mean  work 
which  is  necessary  as  a  preliminary  preparation  for  the  proper  pursuit 
of  special,  professional,  that  is  scientific,  study.  Consequently,  our 
secondary  schools,  our  high  schools  and  our  colleges  will  be  expected 
to  take  more  and  more  of  the  work  which  is  done  in  the  lower  classes 
of  the  various  departments  of  the  university  as  at  present  constituted, 
until  we  shall  have  reached  a  point  where  every  student  coming  into 
the  university  will  have  a  suitable  preliminary  training  to  enable  him 
to  take  up,  with  profit  and  advantage,  university  studies,  in  a  univer- 
sity spirit  and  by  university  methods. 

Everv  community  in  this  country  ought  to  furnish  the  possibility 
of  securing  this  secondary  training  as  near  as  possible  to  the  heart  of 
the  community  itself.  Certainly  every  town  of  fifty  thousand  inhabi- 
tants, and,  perhaps,  every  town  of  twenty  thousand  in  the  United 
States — surely  every  county  in  this  State — should  be  able,  through 
the  activity  of  either  public  agencies  or  of  private  beneficence,  to  offer 
the  facilities  for  acquiring  this  secondary  grade  of  education  which  is 
appropriate  to  the  high  school  and  the  college.  Surely  it  is  true  that 
the  work  done  at  present  in  the  freshman  and  sophomore  years  at  the 
University  of  Illinois,  and  for  that  matter  in  any  of  our  American 
universities,  may  just  as  well  be  done,  so  far  as  the  quahty  of  the 
work  is  concerned,  at  any  one  of  fifty  or  one  hundred  centers  in  the 
State  of  Illinois,  as  at  Urbana;  provided  only  that  adequate  provision 
be  made  for  giving  this  instruction.  And  this  adequate  provision 
need  not  be  very  expensive.  There  comes  a  time  in  the  growth  of 
attendance  at  any  institution,  when  it  reaches  its  maximum  efficiency. 
I  have  no  doubt  myself  that  in  another  ten  years,  unless  we  should 
have  some  great  economic  backset,  there  will  be  ten  thousand  students 
in  the  State  of  Ilhnois,  who  will  want  the  kind  of  work  and  the  grade 
of  work  offered  in  the  freshman  and  sophomore  years  of  the  University 
of  Illinois.  Now  it  is  to  my  mind  perfectly  apparent  that  it  would  be 
tmdesirable  to  have  ten  thousand  freshmen  and  sophomores  in  the 
State  University  at  Urbana.  It  would  be  far  better  to  have  them 
scattered  over  the  State  at  fifty  other  institutions,  provided  we  can 
get  these  institutions  to  take  care  of  them  properly,  and  then  send 
those  of  them  who  may  desire  the  more  advanced  work  up  to  the 
University. 

So  then,  the  institution  must  be  lopped  off  at  the  bottom  and  ex- 
pand at  the  top  in  order  to  become  that  true  university  of  the  State  of 
Illinois  which  will  render  the  largest  service  to  the  people  of  this 
community.  We  have  in  the  development  of  our  College  of  Agri- 
culture a  ven.'  excellent  illustration  of  how,  with  the  growing  standards 
of  this  State,  an  individual  professional  school  will  gradually  change 
its  entire  character  by  the  continued  raising  of  its  standards.     Thus 

(449) 


140 

far  we  have  been  practically  accepting  in  the  college  of  Agriculture 
any  young  man  who  desires  to  avail  himself  of  the  advantages  for 
instruction  offered  here,  and  who  seemed  to  the  Faculty  likely  to  be 
able  to  do  the  work,  without  reference  to  his  formal  preparation.  At 
the  present  rate  of  growth,  in  another  ten  or  fifteen  years  there  will  be 
five  thousand  young  people  in  this  State  who  will  want  to  pursue 
these  studies.  It  would  not  be  possible  or  desirable  to  take  care  of 
these  five  thousand  people  in  the  College  of  Agriculture  at  Urbana.  I 
expect  to  see  secondary  schools  of  agriculture  established  at  different 
points  in  the  State  where  those  who  wish  technical  work  of  second- 
ary grade  can  secure  it  near  home,  and  from  these  the  best  trained  and 
best  fitted  will  be  sent  up  to  the  College  of  Agriculture  at  the  Univer- 
sity of  Illinois  for  their  advanced  training. 

One  may  ask,  at  what  point  will  you  cease  to  raise  these  standards 
of  admission?  I  think  the  answer  to  that  question  is  very  simple, 
namely,  when  we  shall  have  succeeded  in  requiring  from  the  young 
men  and  women  who  enter  the  University  that  degree  and  kind  of  pre- 
liminary education  which,  from  a  pedagogical  and  a  social  point  of 
view,  best  qualifies  them  for  the  beginning  of  special,  i.  e.,  scientific, 
training. 

You  will  see  from  the  above  sketch  that  I  look  upon  the  university 
as  an  institution  for  the  training  of  men  and  women,  not  of  boys  and 
girls.  The  latter,  I  think,  is  distinctly  the  work  of  the  high  school  and 
the  college,  and  the  sooner  it  can  be  relegated  to  them,  the  better  for 
the  young  people  themselves,  for  the  schools  and  colleges,  for  the 
universities  and  for  the  community.  I  have  no  doubt  myself  that 
when  our  educational  system  is  as  fully  developed  as  are  our  commerce 
and  our  manufacturing,  we  shall  see  this  differentiation  of  function. 

But  this  institution  will  be  and  become  not  only  a  university  in 
general,  but  it  will  perforce  be  a  particular  kind  of  university.  It  is 
and  will  remain  a  state  university,  and  certain  consequences  for  its 
future  flow  from  this  fact. 

The  first  thought  in  this  connection  is  one  of  limitation.  As  a 
state  university  in  America,  there  are  certain  things  which  it  cannot 
undertake,  at  least  within  any  period  which  is  worth  our  while  to 
prognosticate  for  it.  The  old  traditional  university  of  the  Middle 
Ages  and  later  times  consisted  primarily  of  the  three  faculties  of  law, 
medicine  and  theology.  The  philosophical  faculty  was  later  added 
and  in  a  few  instances  still  another  faculty  was  added,  making  usually 
four  and  sometimes  five  in  the  typical  university. 

The  theological  faculty  was  thus  from  the  beginning  an  essential 
part  of  the  university.  It  was  an  element  of  the  university  idea.  A 
university  without  the  theological  faculty  can  hardly  be  looked  upon, 
from  a  theoretical  or  historical  point  of  view,  as  a  complete  university. 
Certainly  the  vast  majority  of  thinkers  would  say  that  the  absence 

(450) 


141 

of  a  theological  faculty  is  a  serious  defect  in  an  institution  which  aims 
to  be  a  complete  university.  From  the  standpoint  of  the  church  I 
have  always  felt  that  it  was  a  great  disadvantage  for  it  to  educate  its 
priests  or  clergymen  in  theological  seminaries  isolated  and  monastic 
instead  of  in  theological  faculties  forming  part  and  parcel  of  a  great 
universitv  which  is  itself  in  many  respects  a  microcosm  and  life  in 
which  prepares  for  the  great  life  of  the  world  outside. 

But  in  this  country,  of  course,  the  state  university  cannot  under- 
take to  establish  a  theological  faculty  for  a  long  time  to  come,  if  ever; 
in  fact,  not  until  there  is  a  substantial  agreement  on  the  question  of 
religious  beliefs  and  practices,  at  least  so  far  as  fundamentals  are  con- 
cerned. This  day  is  certainly  far  in  the  future,  and  until  it  comes,  the 
state  universities  in  this  country  will  certainly  not  organize  or  support 
theological  faculties. 

But  we  have  gone  somewhat  further  in  our  actual  practice  than 
our  theorv  of  separation  of  church  and  state  might  call  for  and  we 
have  cut  from  our  curriculum  of  studies  all  courses  bearing  upon 
religion,  even  upon  the  history  of  religion.  I  cannot  help  thinking 
myself,  that  this  is  a  serious  limitation  both  to  the  university  and  to 
the  church,  none  the  less  real  and  serious,  because  under  our  circum- 
stances it  may  be  necessary  as  a  condition  of  development  of  the 
highest  usefulness  of  the  state  university. 

Let  us  not  make  a  mistake  here,  however.  The  cutting  out  of 
formal  religious  instruction  from  the  curriculum  does  not  mean  that  a 
state  university  is  necessarily  non-religious,  or  anti-religious.  An 
institution  is  religious  or  the  opposite  chiefly  because  the  community 
of  which  it  is  a  part  is  religious  or  the  opposite.  The  character  of  the 
state  university,  like  that  of  all  the  other  institutions  of  the  country, 
will  be  determined  fundamentally  by  the  character  of  the  people 
itself.  How  true  this  is  in  matters  of  religion  may  be  seen  by  the 
actual  facts  concerning  our  state  universities.  Thus,  all  of  you  who 
have  followed  the  work  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association 
must  have  been  struck  by  the  fact  that  it  has  no  more  active  and  vigor- 
ous centers  of  life  than  those  in  our  state  universities,  and  the  inter- 
national secretary  of  the  association  stated  some  time  ago  that  the 
largest,  strongest  and  best  organized  college  Christian  Association  in 
the  world  was  to  be  found  here  among  the  students  in  the  University 
of  Illinois.  Religion,  the  religious  spirit,  the  reverent  attitude  and 
all  which  is  bound  up  wdth  what  is  best  in  religion  is  not  something, 
of  course,  which  can  be  shut  up  within  the  dry  bones  of  statistical 
tables,  and  yet  the  figures  collected  by  our  young  people  w^ho  have 
been  interested  in  this  matter  show  that  there  is  very  little  difference 
between  the  number  of  students  who  are  members  of  the  church,  for 
instance,  at  our  state  universities  and  at  the  other  great  educational 
institutions  of  the  country — which  would  seem  to  bear  out  my  propo- 

(451) 


142 

sition  that  the  fundamental  fact  is  not  after  all  the  presence  or  absence 
of  religious  instruction,  but  rather  the  character  of  the  community 
from  which  the  members  of  the  state  university  are  drawn. 

At  the  same  time,  any  one  who  is  a  believer  in  the  state  university 
and  its  function  cannot  help  regretting  the  feeling  which  certainly 
has  prevailed  in  certain  circles  in  the  past  if  not  in  the  present,  that  the 
state  university  is  in  a  certain  way  anti-religious  in  its  atmosphere  and 
its  work;  for  we  can  not  close  our  eyes  to  the  fact  that  whatever  you 
or  I  as  individuals  may  think  of  religion  and  religious  training,  the 
great  mass  of  the  people  of  this  nation  are  deeply  concerned  that  their 
children  should  be  brought  under  what  they  conceive  to  be  proper 
religious  influence  early  in  life,  and  should  remain  so  throughout  the 
college  and  university  years. 

It  is  then  a  matter  of  congratulation  to  those  of  us  who  have  seen 
in  this  opposition  to  the  state  universities  a  certain  menace  to  their 
prosperity,  that  there  are  many  signs  that  this  particular  difficulty  is 
going  to  be  met  in  what  will  be  an  extremely  satisfactory  way  to  all 
concerned.  The  great  religious  denominations  have  come  to  recognize 
that  these  institutions  are  destined  to  grow  and'  increase  with  every 
passing  year,  and  that  the  state  of  which  they  themselves  are  a  part 
will  never  agree  that  the  principle  of  the  separation  of  the  church 
and  state  shall  be  infringed  upon  to  the  extent  of  providing  religious 
instruction  in  state  universities,  and  that  therefore  the  duty  is  upon 
them  to  see  that  adequate  provision  is  made  for  this  great  need.  They 
are  solving  it  in  different  ways.  They  are  in  some  instances  erect- 
ing guild  houses  and  dormitories  where  the  children  from  the  families 
of  their  particular  faith  may  find  centers  of  influence  and  help.  In 
other  places  they  are  providing  lectureships  upon  religious  subjects 
for  the  benefit  of  any  students  who  choose  to  attend.  In  some  places 
they  are  beginning  to  imitate  the  Canadian  system  so  well  exem- 
plified in  the  University  of  Toronto,  of  organizing  local  colleges  with 
the  specific  purpose  of  offering  instruction  in  religious  topics  and  in 
other  subjects  which  the  state  university  may  not  adequately  support, 
for  the  benefit  of  students  who  desire  to  take  such  work. 

For  my  own  part,  I  believe  some  such  device  as  this  last  named 
will  be  found  to  be  a  very  satisfactory  and  helpful  one,  and  that  by 
this  means  we  shall  solve  this  problem,  which  is  none  the  less  real  and 
serious  because  we  have  too  often  been  inclined  to  close  our  eyes  and 
ears  to  the  facts  and  refuse  to  consider  the  question,  imagining  that  if 
we  could  only  bury  our  heads  in  the  sand  we  should  be  free  from  the 
necessity  of  meeting  it  and  grappling  with  it.  When  we  can  combine 
the  freedom  of  the  state  university  with  the  opportunity  for  instruction 
in  religious  matters  which  the  great  mass  of  our  people  holds  to  be 
desirable  and  necessary  to  true  education,  we  shall  have  taken  a  long 


(452) 


143 

step  toward  solving  not  only  this  particular  problem,  but  many  others 
which  touch  it  and  ramify  from  it  in  many  different  directions. 

But  if  the  first  thought  growing  out  of  the  fact  that  this  is  to  be  a 
state  university  is  one  of  limitation,  the  second  and  prevailing  thought 
is  one  of  freedom,  of  privilege,  of  ease  of  movement,  of  facility,  of 
adaptation. 

No  one  will  certainly  accuse  me  of  underestimating  the  work  or 
importance  of  the  non-state  university.  I  owe  my  own  education 
entirely,  after  leaving  the  public  high  school,  to  the  non-state  school, 
particularly  to  the  denominational,  if  not  sectarian,  school,  and  my 
own  work  as  professor  and  president  has  been,  until  I  came  here, 
entirely  in  connection  with  such  schools.  Northwestern,  Harvard, 
Pennsylvania,  which  though  in  name  a  state,  is  in  fact  a  private 
institution,  and  Chicago  represent  the  course  of  my  student  and  pro- 
fessional life.  No  one,  I  believe,  can  entertain  a  deeper  feeling  of 
gratitude  to  these  institutions  and  to  the  men  who  have  founded  and 
built  them  up,  than  I.  No  one  can  have  a  higher  appreciation  of  the 
value  of  their  services  to  the  community  than  I,  and  I  may  say  that 
the  more  I  learned  about  each  of  them,  the  more  I  was  impressed  with 
the  magnitude  of  their  service  to  the  community. 

The  University  of  Chicago,  for  example,  has  not  only  done  the 
ordinary  service  which  any  well  equipped  institution  of  higher  learning 
does,  but  it  has  played  a  most  important  part  in  advancing  the  stand- 
ards and  educating  public  sentiment  on  higher  education  throughout 
the  Mississippi  Valley.  It  is  not  too  much  to  sav  that  every  institu- 
tion of  college  or  university  grade  in  the  Middle  West  has  profited 
'  directly  or  indirectly  by  the  magnificent  work  of  this  institution — and 
by  no  means  the  least  among  them,  the  University  of  Illinois.  It  may 
not  be  out  of  place  for  me  to  say  that  the  University  of  Chicago  has 
been  in  large  part,  from  this  point  of  view,  William  Rainev  Harper, 
whose  absence  we  so  much  regret  on  this  occasion.  If  Chicago  Uni- 
versity had  done  nothing  else  in  the  last  fifteen  years  than  provide  an 
opportunity  for  the  blessing-bringing  activity  of  William  Rainey 
Harper  it  would  still  be  worth  to  the  communitv  all  it  has  cost. 

But  even  if  I  owed  no  personal  debt  or  obligation  to  these  insti- 
tutions, if  I  had  never  for  an  hour  enjoyed  the  benefit  of  instruction 
within  their  halls  or  from  any  one  who  came  from  them  as  teacher, 
still  I  should  certainly  be  a  blind,  ignorant  guide  indeed  if  I  should  by 
any  remark  of  mine  belittle  these  institutions  or  derogate  in  any  way 
from  the  glory  which  properly  belongs  to  them.  We  believers  in 
state  universities,  whatever  we  may  think  of  the  future,  must  certainly 
acknowledge  that  we  owe  everything  that  we  have  been,  and  almost 
everything  that  we  are,  to  these  non-state  institutions.  If  the  history 
of  American  education  were  to  be  closed  today,  certainly  the  chapter 
devoted  to  the  work  of  the  state  university  would  be  very  short  and 

(453) 


144 

unimportant,  indeed,  as  compared  with  that  which  should  relate  the 
history  and  services  of  the  non-state  institutions — Harvard,  Yale, 
Brown,  Columbia,  Princeton,  Leland  Stanford,  Dartmouth,  Oberlin, 
Johns  Hopkins  and  the  hundred  others — what  a  galaxy!  and  how 
proud  we  all  are  of  them  and  their  work!  No  thoughtful  man,  it 
seems  to  me,  however  much  he  may  desire  that  our  State  ll^niversity 
should  wax,  would  like  to  see  these  non-state  institutions  wane,  and  I 
believe  we  should  all  feel  that  anything  which  would  injure  the  effic- 
iency or  the  work  of  any  one  of  these  institutions  would  be  a  calamity 
pure  and  simple. 

In  my  own  view.  Northwestern,  the  Armour  Institute  of  Tech- 
nology, the  University  of  Chicago,  Milliken  University,  and  the  score 
and  more  of  other  non-state  institutions  engaged  in  the  educational 
work  of  this  State,  are  a  vital,  fundamental  and  essential  part  of  the 
life  of  this  community.  I  cannot,  of  course,  foresee  how  many  of  the 
numerous  small  colleges  in  this  State  are  destined  to  survive.  Some 
of  them,  perhaps,  may  disappear.  Others,  I  believe,  will  be  newly 
founded.  All  of  them,  and  more  too,  will  be  needed  when  the  popu- 
lation of  this  State  shall  be  ten  millions,  as  it  will  be  before  many 
years.  But  even  for  the  present  I  cannot  help  feeling  that  any  means 
by  which  such  institutions  as  Lake  Forest,  Knox  College  and  the  Wes- 
ley an  and  Mc  Ken  dree  and  Illinois  and  Shurtleff  and  St.  Ignatius  and 
a  dozen  others  can  be  enabled  to  do  their  work  in  a  thorough  and  effi- 
cient manner,  will  be  a  cause  for  congratulation  to  every  lover  of  edu- 
cation. We  are  all  part  of  the  same  enterprise,  engaged  in  wprking 
out  the  educational  problems  of  this  great  commonwealth,  and  that 
enterprise  is  going  to  be  the  greater  and  the  more  glorious  in  propor- 
tion as  each  of  us  is  enabled  to  do  fully  and  faithfully  his  part  and  por- 
tion in  the  work. 

I  am  a  great  believer  in  the  desirability,  nav,  from  certain  points 
of  view,  the  necessity,  of  a  complete  scheme  of  state  education  from 
the  kindergarten  through  the  professional  school.  I  believe  the  state 
owes  it  to  itself,  to  its  own  people,  to  the  nation,  to  provide  such  a 
scheme  of  education. 

But  I  have  never  felt  that  the  system  of  state  education  should  be 
monopolistic  in  character,  should  be  exclusive,  i.  e.,  should  try  to 
cover  the  entire  territory  and  the  entire  field  to  the  exclusion  of  church 
or  private  agencies.  The  extent  to  which  the  private  institution  has 
been  driven  out  of  the  field  in  Germany  and  France  has  been  and  is  a 
serious  intellectual,  material  and  spiritual  loss  to  both  these  countries. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  extent  to  which  higher  education  has  been  left 
entirely  to  private  hands  in  England  has  been  equally  serious  and 
damaging  to  the  interests  of  that  country.  The  extent  to  which  we 
have  brought  about  a  cooperation  between  the  principle  of  public  and 
private  initiative  in  the  field  of  higher  education  is  a  striking  illustra- 

(454) 


145 

tion  of  our  good  fortune,  if  not  of  our  insight — for  after  all  it  has  been 
largely  accidental.  It  is  desirable  that  the  State  of  Illinois  should 
have  a  state  university,  no  matter  what  the  church  or  private  indi- 
viduals may  do,  no  matter  how  many  institutions  these  may  build  up 
by  its  side.  It  would  be  equally  ?nzdesirable  if  the  State  of  Illinois 
should  attempt  by  either  direct  or  indirect  coercion  to  drive  everybody 
desiring  higher  education  into  the  State  University.  Northwestern 
University,  and  Chicago  University,  and  the  Armour  Institute  of 
Technology,  and  Millikcn  University  and  the  many  small  colleges  in 
the  State  are  taking  care  of  students  of  college  and  universitv  age,  in 
the  aggregate  far  in  excess  of  the  number  provided  for  in  the  State 
University.  And  in  my  opinion  they  always  will,  and,  further  they 
always  should. 

In  other  words,  while  I  am  a  firm  believer  in  the  principle  of  a 
state  system  of  education  from  the  lowest  grade  to  the  highest,  .1 
believe  also  thoroughly  in  utilizing,  as  far  as  possible,  the  assistance- 
of  all  other  agencies  in  the  same  department  of  education.  And  this 
cooperation  will,  in  this  country,  for  aught  that  we  can  see,  for  an 
indefinite  period  be  not  only  desirable,  but  necessary  to  meet  our 
educational  needs. 

It  is  the  non-state  institution  then  in  England  and  in  this  country 
which  has  been  in  a  certain  sense  the  "Ark  of  the  Covenant,"  which 
has  carried  on  from  generation  to  generation  the  precious  deposit  of 
learning  and  has  been  the  intermediary  by  which  the  spiritual  pos- 
sessions of  the  past  have  been  carried  over  and  made  the  possessions 
of  the  present. 

Endowed  institutions,  whether  under  private  or  church  control, 
have  thus  done  a  vast  service.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  they  have 
the  defects  of  their  virtues.  Educational  institutions,  whether 
private  or  state,  are  by  nature  conservative.  They  resist  changes 
and  improvements.  They  fight  progress  almost  as  by  a  law  of  their 
being,  and  the  greater  their  endowments,  the  more  completely  they 
are  removed  from  the  necessity  of  appeal  to  the  life  of  their  own 
generation  for  support,  the  more  set  do  they  become  in  their  conserva- 
tism, the  more  bulwarked  in  their  opposition  to  all  progress.  They 
may  by  their  wealth  defy  the  currents  of  progress.  They  may  oppose 
themselves  to  all  forward  movements.  Not  only  may  they  do  so, 
but  in  nearly  every  instance  in  history  they  have  done  so.  The  his- 
tory of  every  European  country  demonstrates  that  these  bodies,  the 
tmiversities  and  colleges,  have  had  to  be  reformed  by  law.  Left  to 
themselves  they  have  suffered  dry  rot  in  an  extreme  form.  Oxford 
and  Cambridge  fought  bitterly  all  attempts  to  force  them  into  line 
with  modem  progress.  It  was  the  forcible  subjection  of  the  German 
university  to  the  directing  power  of  the  government  which  broke  up 
the  crust  of  conservatism  and  paved  the  way   for  that  wonderful 

(455) 


146 

career  of  progress  which  put  Germany  at  the  head  of  scientific  progress. 
Even  in  our  own  country  our  colleges  and  universities  have  the  same 
opposition  to  education  and  progress  to  record.  If  the  people  in  this 
country  had  handed  over  to  college  and  university  faculties  the 
decision  of  the  important  educational  questions  which  they  have  had 
to  settle  in  the  last  fifty  years,  we  should  have  today  practically  no 
high  school  system,  or  one  of  comparatively  little  value.  We  should 
have  no  system  of  state  universities.  We  should  have,  to  a  large  ex- 
tent, no  professional  schools  of  high  quality  at  all.  It  is,  indeed,  a 
question  whether  we  should  have  even  an  efficient  free  common 
school   system. 

Fortunately  for  us,  however,  our  institutions  as  a  whole  have  been 
so  poverty-stricken  that  they  have  been  compelled  to  appeal  to  the 
community  continually  for  funds,  and  in  doing  so  they  have  been 
forced  into  lines  of  progress  which  have  become  more  and  more 
evident  in  the  past  few  years.  I  am  a  great  admirer  of  Harvard 
University,  easily  the  greatest  of  our  universities;  I  am  a  great  ad- 
mirer of  Harvard  professors,  and  especially  of  that  great  man,  the 
present  president,  facile  princeps  among  the  leaders  in  American 
education  of  the  last  twenty-five  years,  Charles  W.  Eliot,  but  I  do  not 
believe  there  has  ever  been  a  time,  down  to  within  a  very  recent  date, 
when  if  the  faculties  of  Harvard  College  could  have  had  absolutely 
their  own  way,  and  had  had  money  enough  to  persist  in  their  own 
way,  they  would  not  have  committed  themselves  squarely  against 
every  question  of  educational  progress  which  the  scope  of  the  times 
has  brought  to  them.  And  what  is  true  of  Harvard  is  still  truer  of 
the  less  progressive  institutions  of  higher  learning,  of  which  we  have 
many. 

So  I  believe  it  is  necessary,  friends,  by  the  side  of  this  system  of 
private,  endowed,  church  institutions,  to  maintain  a  system  of  state 
institutions.  By  the  side  of  these  other  great  institutions  of  learning 
it  is  necessary  in  this  country  to  maintain  the  state  university,  which, 
because  of  its  entirely  different  origin,  because  of  the  different  influ- 
ences to  which  it  is  subject,  can  work  out  a  supplemental  scheme  of 
education  in  many  different  directions,  extending  into  many  fields 
which  would  be  neglected  in  all  probability  by  these  other  institutions. 
Such  an  institution,  even  though  not  a  leader  by  choice,  will  by  its 
very  constitution  be  compelled  to  adjust  itself  to  modern  demands 
and  thus  force  the  other  institutions  which  wish  to  exist  by  its  side 
into  a  larger  and  more  liberal  view,  and  finally  into  what  is  clearly  the 
line  of  progress. 

The  state  university  is  necessary  in  order  to  help  maintain  the 
democracy  of  education ;  to  help  keep  education  progressive ;  and 
finally  in  order  to  keep  higher  education  close  to  the  people,  and  make 
it  the  expression  and  outgrowth  of  their  needs. 

(456) 


147 

As  a  state  university,  we  may  properh-  demand  from  this  institu- 
tion that  it  undertake  certain  functions  which  it  is  not  so  eas^'  for 
other  institutions  to  assume. 

This  institution  as  a  state  university  mav  become  more  directly 
and  immediately  the  external  expression  of  the  corporate  longing  of 
the  people  for  higher  things  in  the  sphere  of  education  than  can  any 
other  type  of  institution.  This  is  said  with  all  due  regard  for  and  due 
recognition  of  the  real  way  in  which  the  private  institution  has  entered 
into,  and  is  a  real  expression  of,  the  life  of  our  people.  Fortunately, 
we  have  never  needed  to  fear,  in  this  country,  what  some  of  the  conti- 
nental nations  seem  to  have  feared,  namely,  that  institutions  of 
learning  under  private  or  church  auspices  would  work  against  the 
public  interest  of  the  community  of  which  they  are  a  part.  The  funda- 
mental object  of  all  institutions  of  higher  learning  may  be  summed  up 
from  one  side,  as  the  creation  of  the  highest  and  most  efficient  type  of 
citizen.  And  fortunate  it  is  for  us  that  we  may  truly  sav  today,  as  in 
all  previous  periods  of  our  national  history,  that  all  our  higher  insti- 
tutions of  learning,  whether  founded  by  private  individuals  or  by 
religious  sects,  have  in  this  respect  worked  out  the  same  beneficent 
result  for  the  community;  that  the  graduates  of  all  these  schools 
alike  have  been  to  the  same  extent  good  citizens,  have  been  devoted 
patriots,  have  been  self-sacrificing  and  public-spirited  members  of 
society. 

And  yet  I  cannot  help  but  think  that  an  institution,  in  the  estab- 
lishment and  endowment  of  which  every  citizen  feels  that  he  has  a 
direct  and  immediate  share,  expresses  in  a  certain  way  more  fully  his 
desire  for  higher  things  in  the  field  of  education  than  can  any  other 
type  of  institution. 

As  the  citizens  by  their  combined  effort  make  it  possible  to  raise  the 
standard,  enlarge  the  outlook  and  increase  the  equipment  of  such  an 
institution,  they  are  by  this  very  act  themselves  widened  in  their  own 
outlook,  enlarged  in  their  own  sympathies,  quickened  in  their  own 
higher  life.  And  as  this  institution  is  thus  made  more  efficient,  it 
again  in  turn  reacts  upon  the  quality  of  its  clientele  and  its  constitu- 
ency by  turning  back  into  its  midst  an  ever-swelling  number  of  young 
people,  who  in  their  turn  by  their  higher  education  and  their  more 
efficient  training  raise  the  level  of  the  society  from  which  the  institu- 
tion springs.  And  so  there  is  a  real  moral  influence,  and  a  real  moral 
power  proceeding  from  this  relationship  between  the  state  university 
and  the  citizen,  which  is  none  the  less  real,  none  the  less  effective  be- 
cause, like  all  spiritual  things,  it  is  impalpable,  and,  to  a  certain  ex- 
tent, elusive.  And  just  as  the  creation  of  the  public  elementary 
school  opened  a  new  era  in  the  consciousness  of  the  American 
people  as  to  its  duties  toward  education,  just  as  the  creation 
of  the  public  high  school  has  opened    a    new    outlook,  established 

(457) 


148 

a  new  consciousness  on  a  higher  plane  of  the  duties  of  the  com- 
munity as  a  whole  in  the  field  of  secondary  education,  so  the  cre- 
ation of  the  state  university  has  marked  a  new,  a  forward,  an  upward 
step  of  no  mean  importance  and  no  mean  power.  It  is  a  great  step 
to  get  a  whole  people  to  recognize  in  its  corporate  capacity  that  one  of 
its  fundamental  duties  is  higher  education,  and  that  one  of  its  funda- 
mental purposes  should  be  the  creation  of  organs  of  activity  which 
should  realize  and  carry  out  this  fundamental  function.  It  means 
that  the  whole  people  has  passed  on  into  a  new  and  a  higher  state.  It 
is  no  longer  an  appeal  to  a  man  as  a  Christian  that  he  should  look  out 
for  the  education  of  the  community  of  which  he  is  a  part,  and  to  which 
he  owes  a  duty — surely  a  high  appeal — it  is  no  longer  an  appeal  to  the 
Baptist  or  the  Methodist  or  the  Presbyterian  that  he  owes  it  to  the 
church  and  that  the  church  owes  it  to  itself  to  look  out  and  provide 
for  the  existence  of  church  institutions  of  higher  education — surely  a 
high  appeal — nor  is  it  merely  an  appeal  to  him  as  a  philanthropist, 
striving  as  an  individual  to  return  to  society  some  part  of  the  wealth 
he  has  achieved;  but  it  is  a  far  more  fundamental,  a  far  more  universal 
appeal  to  him  in  his  capacity  as  a  member  of  society,  whether  Catholic 
or  Protestant,  whether  Baptist  or  Presbyterian,  whether  rich  or  poor, 
that  this  duty  to  assist  higher  education  is  as  complete  and  all  embrac- 
ing and  fundamental  as  any  other  duty  of  citizenship.  There  is  no 
doubt  that  when  a  community  reaches  this  point  of  view  it  has  passed 
onward  and  upward  into  a  new  and  a  higher  state  of  educational 
consciousness  with  an  ever  wider  educational  outlook,  and  with  the 
promise  of  undreamed-  of  visions  in  the  years  to  come. 

It  is  a  necessary  part  of  the  idea  of  a  state  university  that  it  shall 
be  an  organic  member  of  the  state  system  of  public  education,  and 
that  while,  therefore,  in  a  certain  sense  it  is  the  crown  of  this  system, 
it  must  rest  solidly  and  securely  upon  a  sound  basis  of  secondary  and 
elementary  training.  No  state  university  can  become  the  most 
efficient  instrumentality  for  educational  work  within  its  jurisdiction 
unless  it  is  built  up  upon  a  sound  system  of  elementary  and  secondary 
schools  from  the  kindergarten  to  the  university  itself. 

It  follows  from  this  that  the  university  must  itself  be  an  active 
organ  in  developing,  if  necessary  in  creating,  in  refining,  in  elevating, 
the  character  of  this  elementary  work;  for  without  it  the  university 
cannot  become  a  true  university  at  all. 

It  follows,  moreover,  that  the  university  must  be  most  intimatelv  and 
continuously  associated  with  the  scheme  of  elementary  and  secondary 
education.  It  must  be  so  immediately  based  upon  it  that  there  shall  be 
no  gap  between  the  university  and  this  scheme  of  preparatory  work. 

From  this,  several  consequences  follow,  some  of  them  beneficial 
and  some  of  them,  if  not  injurious,  at  least  antagonistic  in  a  certain 
sense  to  the  highest  and  most  rapid  development  of  the  university. 

(458) 


149 

The  state  university  cannot  require  for  admission  what  the  second- 
ary schools  of  the  state  cannot  give,  and  if  these  remain  few  in  number 
and  of  a  low  type,  the  university  itself  must  be  content  with  living 
upon  a  lower  plane  of  usefulness  than  would  otherwise  be  the  case. 

It  is  a  natural  outgrowth,  therefore,  of  this  essential  fact  that  the 
state  universities  were  the  first  of  the  higher  institutions  to  get  into 
close  organic  touch  with  the  great  element  of  the  secondary  system 
known  as  the  public  high  school,  and  that  they  have  worked  beneficently 
upon  this  system  of  lower  schools,  sustaining,  lifting  and  improving  it. 

It  follows,  also,  from  this  that  the  state  universities  were  the  first 
to  find  it  necessary  to  adapt  their  own  requirements  of  admission,  to 
adapt  to  some  extent  their  own  curriculum,  to  the  needs  of  these 
secondary  schools  which  have  a  much  wider  function  than  that  of 
simply  preparing  for  the  university.  And  so  the  state  university  has 
been  determined  in  its  educational  policy  by  the  needs  of  the  secondary 
school  itself,  thus  bringing  about  a  most  intimate  relation.  The  result 
of  this  intimate  relation  between  the  state  university  and  the  secondary 
schools  has  been  that  the  university  in  all  the  states  where  it  has  been 
put  upon  the  proper  basis,  has  been  the  most  active  and  energetic 
influence  urging  the  community  to  develop  in  an  adequate  way  the 
secondary  school  system. 

The  statement  is  sometimes  made  by  opponents  of  large  appropri- 
ations to  the  state  university  that  you  had  better  spend  more  money 
on  your  lower  schools,  and  less  on  your  higher,  if  you  desire  to  improve 
the  educational  quality  of  the  public  school  system.  No  graver  mis- 
take could  be  made  than  that  which  is  involved  in  the  ordinary 
understanding  of  this  proposition. 

You  cannot  have  good  kindergartens  unless  you  have  good  pri- 
mary schools.  You  cannot  have  good  primary  schools  unless  you 
have  good  intermediate  schools.  You  cannot  have  good  intermediate 
schools  unless  you  have  good  high  schools.  You  cannot  have  good 
high  schools  unless  you  have  good  universities.  In  other  words,  no 
community  reaches  the  upper  grade'  of  efficiency  in  its  elementary 
schools,  except  by  establishing  and  improving  the  quality  of  its  higher 
schools.  This  is  so  apparent  to  a  student  of  education,  and  seeming- 
ly so  difficult  of  comprehension  by  the  general  public,  that  a  further 
word  may  not  be  out  of  place. 

Suppose  a  state  had  ten  millions  of  dollars  to  spend  on  its  school 
system.  My  proposition  is  that  a  considerable  portion  of  that 
shotdd  be  spent  upon  the  highest  grade  of  the  system,  the  university, 
in  order  to  secure  the  effective  expenditure  of  the  money  in  the  lower 
grades,  and  that  if  you  were  to  spend  ten  millions  of  dollars  upon  your 
primary  schools  and  nothing  upon  your  higher  schools,  you  would 
have  a  far  inferior-system  of  schools  to  what  you  would  have  if  you 
provided  for  an  adequate  scheme  of  higher  institutions. 

(.459) 


ISO 

Certainly  you  cannot  have  good  schools  unless  you  have  good 
teachers,  and  all  our  experience  shows  that  you  cannot  have  good 
teachers  in  any  grade  of  schools  unless  you  have  good  schools  of  a 
higher  grade  where  these  teachers  may  secure  their  preparation. 
Moreover,  there  is  a  subtle  moral  force  ever  at  work  in  school  matters 
which  makes  it  impossible  to  secure  the  highest  point  of  efficiency  in 
any  grade  of  the  school  system  unless  it  looks  forward  to  and  prepares 
for  something  higher.  You  cannot  have  good  schools  of  an  elementary 
grade  unless  there  is  the  opportunity  for  your  best  pupils,  for  those 
who  have  the  time  and  money,  to  pass  on  up  to  ever  higher  grades  of 
study.  This  is  the  justification  of  the  high  school,  the  college  and 
the  university  from  the  standpoint  of  the  eighth  and  seventh  and  sixth 
and  first  grades  of  the  elementary  school. 

As  a  state  university  this  institution  will  have  intimate  relations 
not  merely  with  the  high  schools  and  elementary  schools  of  the  edu- 
cational system,  but  with  the  other  great  element  of  the  secondary 
scheme,  namely,  the  normal  schools. 

Many  people  have  thought  that  the  normal  school  is  in  a  certain 
way  merely  a  temporary  element  in  our  educational  system.  It  is 
intended  to  train  teachers  for  the  elementary  and  secondary  schools. 
And  there  is  a  feeling  in  many  quarters  that  as  our  high  schools  im- 
prove in  quality  and  our  universities  multiply,  the  necessity  of  our 
normal  schools  will  disappear. 

I  have  no  doubt  myself  that  the  normal  school  will  change  pro- 
foundly its  character  in  the  course  of  years,  though  how  it  will  change 
I  do  not  profess  to  know;  but  that  it  will,  within  any  time  for  which  it 
is  worth  our  while  to  plan,  become  a  superfluous  element  in  our  scheme 
of  education  I  do  not  believe  at  all.  Develop  our  universities  as  much 
as  we  may  be  able,  develop  our  colleges  as  much  as  private  enterprise 
and  church  initiative  may  assist  us  in  doing,  we  shall  still  not  be  able 
to  secure  for  our  elementary  and  secondary  schools  an  adequate 
number  of  properlv  trained  men  and  women  without  the  assistance 
of  these  normal  schools. 

I  believe  that  they  should  stand  in  the  very  closest  relation  to  the 
state  university,  and  I  believe  that  it  should  be  possible  to  organize 
their  work  in  such  a  way  that  persons  who  intend  to  prepare  for  the 
work  of  teacher  in  the  elementary  and  secondary  schools  of  the  state, 
and  for  the  position  of  superintendent  and  other  similar  administra- 
tive positions,  should  find  it  possible  to  pass  either  through  the  normal 
school  and  then  through  the  university,  or  through  the  university  and 
then  through  the  normal  school,  as  they  may  find  it  most  convenient. 
I  believe  that  all  our  universities  would  find  it  to  their  advantage  to 
get  into  touch  with  this  great  normal  school  system,  but  for  the  state 
university  this  is  an  absolute  essential. 

The  State  of  Illinois  has  established  five  great  normial  schools  and 

(460) 


151 

has  equipped  them  in  a  most  hberal  wav,  and  will  continue  with  in- 
creasing liberalitv  to  keep  them  fully  abreast  of  the  times.  They  are 
doing  a  work  which  no  other  element  in  our  school  system  is  doing, 
and  I  expect,  for  my  part,  to  see  them  improve  and  grow  rather  than 
decrease,  and  the  State  University  and  the  normal  school  together  will 
form,  if  you  please,  a  single  institution  for  furnishing,  in  the  most 
efficient  and  economic  method  practicable,  properly  trained  men  and 
women  for  the  great  system  of  public  schools  supported  by  the  State. 

But  the  state  university,  it  seems  to  me,  must  proceed  further 
than  I  have  thus  far  indicated,  and  with  one  or  two  brief  suggestions 
as  to  some  of  the  directions  in  which  the  state  university  will  develop, 
I  shall  bring  these  considerations  to  a  close. 

The  state  university  will  become  more  and  more  a  great  civil  service 
academv,  preparing  the  young  men  and  women  of  the  state  for  the 
civil  service  of  the  state,  the  county,  the  municipality  and  the  town- 
ship, exactly  as  the  military  and  naval  academies  are  preparing  young 
men  for  the  military  service  of  the  government. 

The  business  of  the  government  is  becoming  more  and  more  com- 
plex with  every  passing  year.  The  American  people  are  beginning  to 
take  a  new  attitude  upon  the  subject  of  its  civil  service.  Formerly 
it  was  thought  that  anybody  who  could  read  and  write  was  fit  for 
almost  any  position  in  the  service  of  the  state,  and  for  a  long  time  in 
the  history  of  the  country  it  was  thought  that  the  most  practical 
method  of  selecting  men  and  women  for  positions  in  the  civil  service 
was  by  their  affiliation  with  and  devotion  to  political  parties  or  political 
factions.  We  are  coming  to  a  recognition  of  a  new  state.  The 
abuses  of  politics  have  led  the  American  people  to  the  general  accept- 
ance of  a  principle,  very  far  from  being  worked  out  as  yet,  under 
which  men  and  women  shall  be  selected  for  the  civil  service  by  a 
method  which  shall  eliminate  the  element  of  political  affiliation  (I  am 
speaking  now  of  the  administrative  positions  in  the  narrowest  sense 
of  that  term) ,  and  every  passing  year  sees  some  new  strengthening  of 
this  principle  of  the  so-called  merit  system  under  which  people  are 
selected  for  posts  in  the  public  service  on  other  grounds  than  that  of 
party  devotion. 

But  we  shall  not  be  satisfied  very  long  with  this  condition  of  things. 
Public  administration  is  becoming  with  every  passing  year  a  more 
complex  subject.  It  calls  for  special  knowledge.  It  calls  for  the 
trained  hand  and  the  trained  mind.  It  will  not  be  long,  therefore, 
until  the  American  people  will,  for  many  positions  now  practically 
open,  insist  that  the  holder  shall  be  properly  trained  and  qualified  to 
perform  the  duties  of  that  particular  office;  and  now  that  the  state 
offers  every  opportunity  to  secure  an  education  not  merely  in  the 
elements  of  learning,  but  in  the  secondary  and  higher  grades  as  well ; 
now  that  the  state  offers  an  opportunity  to  procure  practically  free 

(461) 


152 

the  technical  training  necessary  to  quaHfy  people  for  these  posts,  we 
may  expect  to  see  more  and  more  a  standard  of  efficiency  set  up  and 
insisted  upon  by  the  people  of  this  State,  for  all  persons  entering  the 
public  service.  In  an  age  of  excellent  courses  in  civil  engineering 
supported  by  the  state  almost  free  of  charge,  we  may  expect  to  see 
the  state  require  that  the  civil  service  aspirant  in  the  field  of  survey- 
ing, for  example,  shall  be  a  man  of  scientific  training,  not  merely  one 
who  has  learned  his  business  by  the  mere  rule  of  thumb.  We  shall 
expect  to  see  every  municipality  demand  and  employ  men  of  careful 
scientific  training  to  test  its  water  supply  and  its  food  supplv.  In 
other  words,  the  time  of  the  haphazard,  happy-go-lucky,  hit-or-miss 
public  official  and  of  the  ignoramus  in  the  department  of  public  ad- 
ministration is  passing  away  in  favor  of  the  scientifically  trained  man 
who  knows  his  business.  Now  the  people  of  this  State  have  a  right  to 
demand  of  the  State  University  that  it  shall  turn  out  men  and  women 
properly  equipped  for  this  kind  of  work,  and  who  will  return  to  the 
State  in  efficient  service  a  thousandfold  over  the  cost  of  their  training. 

Now,  all  this  you  will  note  is  in  addition  to  and  quite  apart  from 
the  function  of  the  state  universit}^  as  a  center  for  the  training  of 
men  and  women  who  wish  to  enter  the  learned  professions,  a  topic 
which  has  been  discussed  previously.  To  my  mind,  if  the  state  re- 
quires an  examination  of  proficiency  from  anybody  as  a  condition  of 
practicing  any  profession,  it  should  itself  provide  the  centers  properly 
equipped,  where  the  requisite  training  may  be  obtained.  And  as  the 
state  may  undoubtedly  increase  this  supervision  over  callings  now 
left  free,  we  may  expect  to  see  the  state,  in  the  state  university,  pro- 
vide opportunities  for  study  in  many  directions  which  are  not  now  to 
be  found  at  all. 

But  the  state  university  must  be  and  become  more  than  a  civil 
service  academy.     It  is  and  is  destined  to  become  to  an  ever-increasing    / 
extent  the  scientific  arm  of  the  state  government,  just  as  the  governor 
and  his  assistant  officers  are  the  executive  arm  and  the  judges  and  the 
courts  are  the  judicial  arm. 

As  the  business  of  government  becomes  more  complex,  the  prob- 
lems which  the  state  has  to  solve  in  many  different  directions  become 
more  difficult,  requiring  in  many  cases  more  careful  scientific  experi- 
mentation and  long-continued  investigation,  for  the  pursuit  of  which 
there  must  be  adequate  laboratory  equipment  and  trained  investi- 
gators. For  all  such  work  the  state  university  is  the  natural  and 
simple  means  alreadv  provided. 

I  have  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  here  in  the  University  of  • 
Illinois  are  already  located,  for  example,  the  State  Water  Survev, 
the  State  Natural  History  Survey,  the  State  Entomologist's  office, 
the  State  Geological  Survey,  etc.     There  is  no  doubt  that  if  the  uni- 
versity is  properly  organized  to  undertake  this  scientific  work  in  a 

(462) 


153 

wav  to  make  it  thoroughly  effective,  it  will,  to  an  increasing  extent, 
be  constituted  the  scientific  arm  and  scientific  head,  if  vou  please,  of 
the  state  administration. 

It  goes  without  the  saying  that  this  concentration  of  the  scientific 
work  of  the  state  government  at  the  university  has  most  valuable 
educational  results.  The  increasing  number  of  scientific  men  centered 
at  the  universities  helps  create  that  scientific  atmosphere,  that  scien- 
tific spirit  w^hich  is  absolutely  essential  to  the  upbuilding  of  a  great 
university.  This  union  of  scientific  investigation  and  educational 
work  is  a  most  fortunate  combination  for  both  sides  of  the  enterprise. 
The  scientific  work  for  the  state  government  offers  an  opportunitv 
to  train  the  young  men  in  actual  practice,  and  by  thus  securing  their 
interest  in  and  training  for  such  work  the  government  is  able  to  obtain 
an  ample  and  regular  supplv  of  properly  trained  workers  in  this  field. 
By  such  a  union  the  state  secures  the  maximum  of  service  at  a  mini- 
muin  of  cost. 

Further,  the  state  university  will,  I  believe,  in  combination  with 
the  normal  schools  become  practicallv,  for  manv  concrete  purposes, 
the  state  department  of  education.  We  have  alreadv  in  this  State 
and  in  most  of  the  American  states  a  state  department  of  education, 
consisting  usually  of  an  officer  called  the  state  superintendent  of  public 
instruction.  His  duties,  however,  are  comparatively  narrow,  as  pre- 
scribed by  law.  The  possibilitv  of  performing  them  is  determined  by 
very  meager  appropriations.  Usually  speaking,  it  is  an  office  entrusted 
with  the  enforcement  of  the  school  laws  and  the  distribution  of  the 
school  money.  The  functions  of  the  public  ministry  of  education 
such  as  one  finds  in  so  many  of  the  European  states  either  are  entrusted 
to  him  in  a  very  small  degree,  or  he  is  enabled  to  carry  out  these 
functions  only  within  very  narrow  limits.  The  dutv  of  canvassing 
the  educational  needs  of  the  state  from  time  to  time,  urging  and  im- 
pressing them  in  a  strong  way  upon  the  people  of  the  state,  not  merely 
upon  the  teachers  and  the  legislatures  and  the  government,  but  upon 
the  great  masses  of  the  people — this  is  something  which  our  American 
departments  of  education  have  done  only  to  a  very  slight  extent. 
Now  and  then  a  strong  personality  in  the  position  of  state  superin- 
tendent has  worked  out  great  things  for  the  education  of  the  state. 
We  have  an  example  of  such  a  personality  in  the  superintendent's 
office  of  the  State  at  present.  But  there  is  need  of  a  more  continuous, 
of  a  wider  spread,  of  a  more  deeply  rooted,  activity  in  this  direction, 
than  the  state  superintendent's  office  under  existing  conditions  can 
develop.  Such  a  function,  within  certain  limits,  I  believe  the  state 
university  combined  wdth  the  normal  schools  can  perform.  The 
department  of  education  in  the  state  universitv  organizing  the  re- 
sources of  the  state  university  for  this  particular  purpose  may  bring 
to  bear  upon  the  educational  problems  and  upon   the  educational 

(463) 


154 

needs  of  the  state,  an  expert  opinion  which  it  is  not  possible  to  find  in 
any  other  department  of  the  state  administration. 

This  function,  it  may  be  said,  is  not  performed  by  the  university 
in  its  capacity  as  a  civil  service  academy,  preparing  teachers  for  the 
educational  service  of  the  state.  It  is  larger  and  wider  than  this.  It 
is  a  recognition  of  the  university  as  one  of  the  organs  created  by  the 
state  for  determining,  within  certain  limits,  the  policy  of  the  state  in 
the  great  field  of  education. 

And  thus  I  might  proceed  with  a  summary  of  other  great  things 
that  are  waiting  for  the  state  university  if  is  only  knows  the  day  of  its 
visitation ;  if  it  only  measures  itself  up  to  its  opportunities ;  if  it  only 
performs  faithfully  and  simply  the  duties  which  the  state  thrusts 
upon  it. 

But  time  presses  and  I  must  draw  these  considerations  to  a  close. 
I  have  left  untouched  many  things  which  you  may  have  expected  me 
to  discuss,  not  because  I  do  not  consider  them  as  important,  but  either 
because  I  regard  them  so  fundamental  that  we  should  all  agree  upon 
them  or  because  the  limitation  of  time  does  not  permit  even  of  their 
mention.  You  will  have  gathered  from  what  I  have  said  my  concep- 
tion in  general  of  the  function  and  future  of  the  state  university. 

It  may  be  defined  in  brief  as  supplementary  to  the  great  system 
of  higher  education  which  private  beneficence  and  church  activity 
have  reared,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  will  continue  to  rear.  It  is  corrective 
rather  than  directive ;  it  is  cooperative  rather  than  monopolistic ;  it  is 
adapted  for  leadership  in  certain  departments,  but  must  look  to  the 
non-state  institution  for  leadership  in  others.  It  should  be  as  uni- 
versal as  the  American  democracy — as  broad,  as  liberal,  as  sympa- 
thetic, as  comprehensive — ready  to  take  up  into  itself  all  the  educa- 
tional forces  of  the  state,  giving  recognition  for  good  work  wherever 
done,  and  unifying,  tying  together  all  the  multiform  strands  of 
educational  activity  into  one  great  cable  whose  future  strength  no 
man  mav  measure. 


(464) 


155 


Thursday,  October  19 
THE  ASSEMBLY  OF  THE  COLLEGE  OF  ENGINEERING 


The  Chapel,  9.00  a.m. 
THE  STUDENT-ENGINEER 

W.    F.  M.  Goss,  M.S. 
Dean  of  the  College  of  Engineering,  Purdue  University 

In  the  forty-nine  Land  Grant  colleges  of  this  country,  of  which  the 
University  of  Illinois  is  one,  there  are  today  approximately  ten  thous- 
and students  in  engineering  courses.  These  students  are  in  most  cases 
mature  men.  They  have  come  to  their  present  work  as  the  result  of 
careful  selection  after  long  courses  of  preliminary  training,  and  they 
look  out  upon  their  life-work  with  high  aspirations.  The  student- 
engineer  is  in  fact  a  force  making  for  American  citizenship,  the  full 
significance  of  which  few  people  yet  understand.  He  is  permitted 
privileges  such  as  the  world  has  never  before  set  before  her  young 
men,  and  it  goes  without  saying  that  these  privileges  carry  with  them 
responsibilities  which  are  unusual.  The  character  of  some  of  these 
it  is  my  purpose  briefly  to  discuss. 

First  of  all,  the  thinking  student  will  not  fail  to  consider  the  value 
and  extent  of  the  college  influence.  The  varied  and  dignified  exercises 
of  the  present  week  in  which  you  as  students  of  the  University  of 
Illinois  have  had  a  part,  give  emphasis  to  this  theme.  Here  are  ample 
grounds,  fine  buildings,  extensive  laboratories  and  complete  equip- 
ments— apparatus  which  in  some  cases  has  the  delicacy  required  in 
the  researches  of  the  scientist,  and  in  others  the  massive  proportions 
necessary  in  the  machinerv  of  the  engineer.  Here,  also,  is  a  staff  of 
distinguished  doctors  and  professors,  aided  by  numerous  instructors 
and  assistants  all  working  in  an  effective  organization  for  the  accomp- 
lishment of  definite  results, — men  who  have  come  to  their  present 
positions  after  special  training,  and  some  of  whom  have  through  years 
of  arduous  service  so  well  guided  the  destinies  of  this  institution  as  to 
make  possible  its  effective  methods  and  its  present  high  standards. 
Here,  too,  are  students  coming  from  every  part  of  a  great  state,  from 
other  states,  and  even  from  foreign  lands;  from  city  and  town;  from 
the  home  of  the  farmer,  the  artisan,  the  merchant  and  the  lawyer,  here 
to  live  and  work  as  one  people,  to  be  animated  by  a  common  purpose, 
each  one  to  give  and  to  receive  something  from  his  contact  with  every 
other  one. 

Such  a  description,  embracing  the  grounds,  buildings  and  equip- 
ment, the  professors  and  the  students,  is  often  regarded  as  constituting 
a  description  of  the  University.  It  represents  the  materials  and 
persons  which  appeal  to  the  ordinary  visitor.     But  such  a  conception 

(465) 


156 

is  elementary.  It  is  but  a  starting  point  from  which  properly  to 
apprehend  the  significance  of  such  an  institution.  That  which  lies 
immediately  about  us  is  in  fact  but  a  center  toward  which  tend  a 
multitude  of  interests  and  activities.  Beyond  this  campus  are  the 
people  of  the  State,  who,  acting  through  their  Legislature,  supply 
with  a  liberal  hand  that  which  is  needed  for  its  maintenance  and 
prosperity.  The  University  of  Illinois  is  great  because  the  people 
are  its  keepers,  and  if  the  people  are  its  keepers,  then  every  tax-payer 
may  claim  to  be  a  part  of  it.  Then  there  are  the  homes  which  are 
represented  b}"  its  students,  out  of  hundreds  of  which  today  come 
thoughts  of  love  and  interest,  of  hope  and  expectation.  The  father 
and  mother  of  every  one  of  its  students  have  a  vital  interest  in  every- 
thing that  affects  its  welfare,  and  the  sympathies  of  the  University 
must  be  broad  enough  to  include  them. 

Again,  outside  of  grounds,  in  every  part  of  the  State,  are  its  manu- 
facturers who  are  required  constantly  to  be  increasing  the  efficiency 
of  their  methods ;  to  proceed  by  processes  which  are  new ;  to  substitute 
a  higher  degree  of  intelligence  in  operation,  for  that  which  served 
before.  The  steel  maker,  the  tile  maker,  the  cement  manufacturer, 
the  engine  builder,  the  power  plant  manager,  all  look  to  the  college 
for  help.  They  require  men,  and  the  college  supplies  them;  they 
desire  to  be  informed  concerning  a  scientific  fact  or  application,  and 
thev  turn  to  the  college  and  are  instructed.  The  industries  of  the  State 
and  the  technical  school  of  the  State  are  in  fact  but  two  different 
parts  of  the  same  thing.  Each  contributes  its  strength  to  that  of  the 
other,  and  the  college  is  as  large  as  the  industrial  activities  of  the 
State  can  make  it.  These  are  some  of  the  interests  which,  having 
their  origin  remote  from  this  vicinity  find  their  center  here.  They 
are  converging  interests,  but  there  are  others  which  diverge.  Year 
by  year  men  trained  within  these  halls  scatter  to  become  a  part  of  the 
bone,  sinew  and  of  the  intellectual  force  of  the  State,  establishing 
homes  and  building  industries.  Wherever  they  go,  if  they  are  true 
to  their  training,  they  make  things  better  and  prepare  a  w^ay  in  which 
you  who  are  now  students  mav  hereafter  follow.  Certainly,  no 
proper  estimate  of  what  constitutes  the  Universitv  is  complete  which 
does  not  include  its  graduates. 

These  brief  statements  but  feebly  measure  the  extent  of  the  uni- 
versity interest.  The  student-engineer  finds  not  onlv  buildings,  lab- 
oratories and  professors  awaiting  his  coming,  but  he  discovers  that  the 
support  of  a  great  state  is  behind  him,  that  great  interests  center 
in  matters  with  which  he  is  privileged  to  concern  himself,  and 
that  hundreds  of  graduates  who,  while  busy  with  their  own  affairs, 
look  back  with  serious  concern  to  the  record  which  he  is  making, 
stand  ready  to  give  him  a  helping  hand  when  he  is  prepared  to  receive 
it. 

(466) 


157 

Turning  now  from  the  university  to  the  student-engineer,  it  is 
well  to  remember  that  the  conceptions  which  one  has  of  his  future 
career  are  likely  to  be  limited  by  his  past  experiences.  A  boy  who 
thinks  of  the  thing  he  will  do  when  he  becomes  a  man  usually  enter- 
tains visions  which  please  a  boy.  There  is  in  fact,  nothing  in  a  boy's 
experience  which  can  serve  as  a  background  upon  which  he  can  depict 
the  pleasure  and  the  dignity  which  the  opportunities  of  manhood 
are  to  bring  him.  A  New  England  dame,  having  passed  sixty  odd 
vears  of  pastoral  life  in  a  village  behind  the  hills  having  a  stage-coach 
communication  with  the  outside  world,  upon  hearing  by  chance  some 
discussion  of  a  project  to  extend  a  railway  in  the  direction  of  her  home, 
quietlv  remarked  that  "the  cars  might  come  but  she  should  not  go  out 
to  let  the  bars  down  for  them."  Your  observation  has,  of  course, 
long  since  taught  you  that  railway  trains  progress  over  the  country 
whether  the  bars  are  let  down  or  not,  but  I  assume  that  you  are  still 
reaching  out  toward  ideals  which  your  present  knowledge  and  experi- 
ence but  imperfectly  sustain.  In  view  of  this  fact,  I  cannot  do  better 
than  to  call  vour  attention  to  some  of  those  qualities  and  exercises 
which  assist  in  the  development  of  the  student-engineer. 

In  one's  reaching  out  toward  a  future  goal,  he  should  place  a  high 
value  upon  the  dignity  of  his  calling.  It  is  hardly  worth  while  for  this 
institution  to  lavish  its  resources  upon  you  or  for  you  as  students  to 
subject  yourselves  to  the  discipline  of  a  four  years'  course  unless  some- 
thing more  than  ordinary  is  to  come  otit  of  it.  Your  career  as  a  student 
is  in  itself  a  call  to  leadership.  Whether  you  achieve  leadership  or  not 
may  be  a  question,  but  there  should  be  no  mistake  concerning  your 
ideals.  Such  a  conception  raises  the  work  of  the  student  to  a  high 
level.  It  places  beneath  his  feet  everything  which  is  low  and  mean 
and  even  commonplace,  for  a  man  selected  for  leadership  necessarily 
carries  the  responsibihties  of  that  leadership,  and  many  things  which 
trouble  and  take  the  time  of  men  about  him  give  him  no  concern,  for 
he  lives  above  them.  There  is  nothing  egotistical  in  the  acceptance 
of  such  an  ideal.  It  is  hardly  more  than  a  rational  business  proposi- 
tion. It  is  a  declaration  to  the  effect  that  those  who  enjoy  exceptional 
training  must  be  expected  to  become  exceptional  men. 

A  student  who  feels  the  responsibilities  of  such  a  call  will  guard 
well  the  disposition  of  his  time.  In  this  day  of  the  newspaper,  we 
hear  much  of  the  frivolities  of  college  students,  and  while  it  is  true 
that  every  large  college  probably  counts  among  its  members  some  who 
are  careless  or  indififerent  to  their  obHgations,  a  few  who  are  dissipated, 
and  a  still  smaller  number  who  may  be  positively  vicious,  these  things 
are  not  characteristic  of  an  American  college  community.  But  while 
we  may  thus  comfort  ourselves  with  the  feeling  that  we  are  not  en- 
titled to  much  of  the  criticism  that  is  sometimes  laid  at  our  door,  we 
do  not,  by  so  doing,  set  matters  right.     It  is  not  sufficient  that  the 

(467) 


158 

college  student  be  better  than  he  is  sometimes  thought  to  be;  the 
important  question  is  as  to  whether  the  process  of  the  college  tends 
to  the  upbuilding  of  his  character.  The  fact  is  that  the  student  who 
does  not  feel  that  he  is  progressing  in  his  ideals  of  simple  truth  and 
honesty  is  on  dangerous  ground.  These  are  matters,  moreover,  which 
he  should  gauge,  not  by  his  ability  to  keep  the  law,  but  by  the  strength 
of  right  impulses  which  animate  him.  He  should  insist  upon  living 
in  an  atmosphere  of  pure  speech,  and  suppress  all  practices  which 
result  in  a  waste  of  time.  A  disregard  of  such  reasonable  requirements 
is  equivalent  to  a  neglect  of  opportunities  or  worse,  and  a  student 
whose  attainments  are  so  limited  that  he  does  not  desire  them,  is  out 
of  place  in  a  college  community.  In  all  this,  you  will  notice  that  I 
have  not  set  my  standard  high.  There  are  other  and  higher  grounds 
of  appeal  from  which  I  do  not  at  this  time  assume  to  speak.  I  merely 
urge  upon  you  the  fact  that  a  successful  professional  career  cannot 
be  enjoyed  except  it  is  sustained  by  abiding  qualities  of  manhood. 

The  student-engineer  must  of  necessity  be  much  absorbed  in  the 
technique  of  his  course.  Upon  first  acquaintance,  a  great  bridge  is 
but  a  bridge  to  him,  but  as  he  pursues  his  study  the  bridge  resolves 
itself  into  foundations,  abutments,  piers  and  superstructure,  and  each 
of  these  in  turn  becomes  separated  into  scores  of  details,  and  beyond 
the  details  he  knows  there  are  methods  of  analyses,  as  refined  as  he 
may  choose  to  have  them,  by  means  of  which  the  size  and  proportions 
of  every  part  have  been  determined.  When  he  understands  the 
methods  employed  in  its  building,  the  bridge  becomes  a  series  of 
logical  facts  the  contemplation  of  which  stirs  his  ambition  and  stimu- 
lates his  interest  in  principles  of  design. 

In  a  similar  manner  the  unskilled  gaze  unmoved  where  the  roar  of 
a  waterfall  is  converted  into  light,  but  as  the  student-engineer  pro- 
ceeds with  his  study  of  such  an  installation,  he  sees  the  stored  energv 
of  impounded  water,  wheels  for  utilizing  it,  electric  generators  and 
rotary  converters  for  making  and  sending  forth  the  current,  and 
transmission  lines  leading  out  to  a  distant  network  of  service  wires 
tipped  with  lights  which  glow  like  the  stars  of  the  firmament.  As  he 
proceeds  with  his  examination,  he  finds  that  in  each  one  of  these 
elements  there  is  a  labyrinth  of  detail  and  that  every  detail  is  a  re- 
sponse, more  or  less  perfect,  to  the  laws  with  which  it  is  his  purpose 
to  become  familiar.  In  a  similar  way,  engineering  structures  and 
machines  of  many  sorts  must  be  studied,  their  functions  analvzed, 
and  the  theories  which  have  been  formulated  to  guide  practice  in 
their  construction  or  operation,  studied.  The  student  rarely  fails  to 
be  attentive  to  these  studies,  for  he  realizes  that  his  whole  purpose  in 
attending  a  technical  school  is  that  he  may  become  proficient  in  them. 
He  is  interested  in  them.  He  is  conscious  of  the  uplift  which  they 
give;  they  serve  to  increase  his  knowledge  of  facts;  they  promise  a 

(468) 


159 

larger  degree  of  intellectual  freedom,  and  he  feels  that  by  their  use 
he  must  sometime  prove  his  value.  It  rarely  happens,  therefore, 
that  the  student  fails  to  do  justice  to  his  technical  work,  but  he  makes 
a  mistake  when,  having  done  this,  be  it  ever  so  perfectly,  he  assumes 
that  he  has  met  the  full  measure  of  his  responsibilities. 

Students  who  are  inclined  to  shut  themselves  up  with  the  routine 
of  their  course  should  consider  that  no  man  can  be  an  engineer  in  a 
large  sense  who  knows  only  engineering.  If  in  his  struggle  for  attain- 
ment he  stops  with  his  technical  training,  he  is  in  danger  of  becoming 
merely  an  animated  calculating  machine,  useful  and  valued  as  are 
the  slide-rules  and  mathematical  tables,  but  shut  out  from  all  chance 
of  preferment  because  of  the  limitations  with  which  he  has  uncon- 
sciously hedged  himself  about.  Such  a  one  is  on  the  wrong  track. 
The  engineer  is  a  man;  the  technical  training  but  one  of  his  tools.  A 
safe  and  reliable  engineer  is  an  honest  and  conscientious  man.  An 
able  engineer  is  a  well-trained,  far-seeing  man,  and  a  great  engineer 
is  a  man  who,  possessing  all  of  these  qualities  in  an  unusual  degree, 
has  achieved  success  through  his  work.  The  student,  if  he  would 
avoid  professional  suicide,  must  regard  with  care  all  things  which 
make  for  a  well-rounded  manhood. 

The  schools  of  engineering  offer  many  things  for  his  upbuilding  in 
addition  to  the  technical  work  of  his  course  to  which  he  may  well  give 
earnest  attention.  For  example,  there  are  the  general  studies  of  his 
course,  the  literature,  history  and  modern  language  upon  which  the 
student  often  enters  with  some  reluctance.  He  sometimes  gives 
expression  to  a  feeling  that  such  general  studies  are  not  in  line  with 
his  ambition  ;  that  their  trend  is  away  from  his  purpose, 
and  that  in  the  nature  of  the  case  they  cannot  greatly  in- 
terest him.  Some  candidates  for  engineering  honors  'have  been 
known  to  drop  their  college  course  upon  their  failure  to  secure  per- 
mission to  specialize,  or,  in  other  words,  to  go  around  these  general 
studies.  All  such  objection  arises  from  misinformation  and  from  an 
imperfect  understanding  of  what  it  is  to  be  an  engineer,  and  if  persisted 
in  will  strangle  the  very  qualities  of  character  which  the  college  course 
is  designed  to  stimulate.  None  will  deny  that  a  full-rounded  man 
should  be  able  to  spell,  to  write  a  fair  hand,  to  properly  capitalize  and 
punctuate  his  manuscript,  for  these  are  rather  commonplace  accom- 
plishments and  certainly  should  be  possessed  by  one  who  aspires  to 
leadership  in  any  field.  Some  knowledge  of  books,  of  historic  events, 
and  of  a  language  other  than  his  own,  constitute  information  which, 
in  view  of  the  attainments  of  those  with  whom  the  future  leaders  will 
need  to  deal,  are  hardly  less  elementary.  The  student  who  will 
fairly  and  soberly  compare  the  opportunities  for  instruction  in  these 
kindred  lines  which  are  offered  by  schools  of  engineering,  with  the  need 
which  manifests   itself  when   he  compares  his  own  attainments  with 

(469) 


160 

those  of  his  ideal  engineer,  will  find  new  interest  in  the  general  sub- 
jects of  his  course. 

During  his  college  life,  the  student-engineer  should  endeavor  in 
every  possible  way  to  increase  his  familiarity  with  technical  literature. 
He  should  find  some  time  for  the  technical  periodicals,  and  more  for 
the  books  of  the  library.  He  should  gain  some  acquaintance  with  the 
proceedings  of  the  national  engineering  societies,  and  still  later  he 
may  interest  himself  in  books  devoted  to  specific  subjects,  In  this 
matter,  he  will  avoid  the  humiliation  which  sooner  or  later  comes  to 
one  who,  having  graduated  from  a  technical  school,  finds  his  acquain- 
tance with  technical  literature  limited  to  the  few  texts  which  on  the 
day  of  his  graduation,  he  carried  away  from  his  college  under  one  arm. 

There  arise,  also,  in  the  college  and  perhaps  in  the  town,  many 
occasions  when  lectures,  sermons  or  music  may  be  heard.  It  is  an 
unfortunate  fact  that  those  students  who,  through  lack  of  advantages 
in  youth,  are  most  in  need  of  broadening  influences,  are  generally  the 
last  to  appear  on  such  occasions.  Moreover,  it  must  be  confessed 
that  the  average  student  does  not  as  a  rule  place  a  high  value  upon 
such  opportunities.  The  college  authorities  exert  themselves,  the 
intellectual  table  is  spread,  the  guests  are  bidden,  but  they  for  whom 
the  feast  is  especially  prepared  do  not  come.  The  failure  of  the 
student  to  avail  himself  of  such  an  opportunity,  is  in  most  cases  due 
to  a  lack  of  interest.  He  finds  himself  busy  with  other  things  and  so 
does  not  come.  In  some  cases  doubtless  the  failure  is  the  outgrowth 
of  timidity,  of  a  feeling  that  that  which  is  especially  refined  is  a  little 
out  of  his  class,  that  it  would  best  be  deferred  until  he  can  more  nearly 
measure  up  to  the  requirements.  Obviously,  such  reasoning  is  trivial. 
The  student  is  enlisted  as  a  leader  and  leadership  permits  no  hesitation 
in  the  advance.  Any  good  or  proper  thing  to  which  he  is  clearly 
entitled  should  not  be  Hghtly  put  aside.  He  may  not  get  as  much 
from  the  lecture  or  sermon  as  his  neighbor  who  has  been  better  trained ; 
he  may  not  be  inspired  by  music,  nor  especially  enjoy  his  early  appear- 
ances in  society,  but  he  should  be  wise  enough  to  recognize  that  all  of 
these  things  which  people  of  culture  enjoy  and  find  profitable,  are 
worthy  of  his  attention  and  effort. 

The  importance  of  these  matters  is  emphasized  the  moment  one 
attempts  to  construct  a  picture  of  his  ideal  engineer.  For  example, 
when  Captain  Eads,  from  his  knowledge  of  the  habits  of  rivers, 
conceived  the  plan  by  which  the  channel  of  the  Mississippi  might  be 
deepened,  he  saw  all  features  of  the  construction  just  as  they  were 
afterwards  developed  in  actual  materials.  Here  moved  the  water  of  a 
mighty  river  in  a  shallow  current  spread  out  over  a  wide  course. 
There  was  needed  to  meet  the  requirements  of  commerce  a  channel 
of  considerable  depth.  The  vision  of  the  engineer  made  clear  the 
fact  that  the  water  if  confined  to  a  narrow  course  must  work  its  way 

(470) 


161 

deeper  into  the -sandy  bottom.  All  along  the  bank  grew  willows  in 
abundance.  The  engineer  saw  the  willow  branches  cut,  woven  into 
great  mattresses,  and  then  loaded  with  stones  and  sunk,  one  after 
another  along  the  course  of  the  stream,  layer  upon  layer,  until  willow 
twigs  and  stems,  intermixed  with  sand  deposited  by  the  water  ex- 
tended from  the  bottom  of  the  stream  to  the  surface,  forming  a  sup- 
plemental bank  between  which  the  contracted  stream  moved  rapidly, 
cutting  its  wav  downward  and  giving  the  desired  channel.  The  plan 
is  not  complicated  and  the  completed  work  seems  simple  enough. 
But  without  the  inspiring  genius  of  the  engineer,  the  Mississippi 
might  todav  be  rolling  its  slow,  shallow  and  wide-reaching  way. 

The  qualities  which  necessarily  enter  into  our  picture  of  the  ideal 
engineer  are  in  fact  the  elements  of  greatness.  They  are  the  outgrowth 
of  natures  which  are  large  and  sympathetic,  and  no  one  can  possess 
them  who  confines  his  views  and  his  interests  to  the  narrow  limits  of 
his  own  personal  affairs. 

In  thus  urging  upon  you,  the  students  of  engineering  of  the  Uni- 
versitv  of  Illinois,  the  importance  of  a  well-rounded  development,  I 
proclaim  no  new  doctrine,  nor  am  I  likely  to  find  any  who  will  disagree 
wdth  me  in  the  general  propositions  which  have  been  set  forth.  But 
it  will  be  said  that  the  problem  defined  is  practical  rather  than  theo- 
retical. In  the  minds  of  many  students  it  at  once  resolves  itself  into 
a  question  of  time.  In  such  an  institution  as  this,  the  pressure  of 
technical  work  is  necessarily  heavy,  and  the  student  who  would  do 
other  things,  has  need  to  study  well  the  methods  by  which  he  proceeds. 
As  the  professional  engineer  brings  the  working  of  a  machine  to  its 
highest  performance  by  the  careful  adjustment  of  each  of  its  parts, 
so  the  student-engineer  must  by  proving  his  methods  and  by  the 
omission  of  all  trifles,  find  time  in  which  to  give  attention  to  these 
necessary  matters. 

Finally,  the  wise  student  will  never  permit  his  routine  to  become  a 
burden.  The  work  must  not  be  a  taskmaster;  he  must  be  the  master, 
for  there  can  be  no  interest,  no  enthusiasm  without  mastery,  and  it  is 
these,  the  interest  and  the  enthusiasm,  which  must  be  depended  upon 
to  transform  tasks  which  are  difficult  into  opportunities  to  be  enjoyed. 


(471) 


162 


ASSEMBLY  OF  THE  COLLEGE  OF  SCIENCE 
Physics  Lecture  Room,  9:00  a.m. 


THE  SCIENTIFIC  AND  THE  NON-SCIENTIFIC 

Thomas  C.  Chamberlin,  Ph.D.,  LL.D. 

Professor  in  the  University  of  Chicago 

This  is  to  be  a  sermon ;  and  my  text  is  this :  Let  everyone  stand  on 
his  own  feet,  and  let  everyone  keep  his  feet  on  the  ground.  This  text  is 
not  canonical  and  its  verse  and  chapter  cannot  be  cited,  but  it  may  be 
found  embodied  in  every  ideal  contribution  to  true  scientific  education. 
Two  fundamental  canons  control  educational  endeavor  in  the  scien- 
tific field,  independence  in  the  worker,  and  reality  in  the  subject- 
matter.  To  teach  the  student  to  think  for  himself,  to  develop  in  him 
the  power  of  independent  inquiry,  whether  it  be  original  investigation, 
or  the  more  common  inquiries  of  life,  is  the  ideal  of  the  modern  science 
teacher.  To  prepare  youth  to  be  intellectual  freemen,  in  contradis- 
tinction to  mere  followers  or  servile  imitators,  is  the  mission  of  scien- 
tific education.  Authority  indeed  plays  an  appropriate  part  in 
scientific  work,  but  chiefly  as  an  authentication  of  determined  facts, 
and  only  guardedly  in  the  promotion  of  opinions  and  doctrines.  A 
survey  of  the  past  reveals  the  significant  fact  that  the  influence  of 
authority  was  most  dominant  in  those  stages  of  intellectual  develop- 
ment when  the  grounds  for  safe  conclusions  were  feeblest.  A  survey 
of  the  present  reveals  the  fact  that  authority  is  still  appealed  to  most 
where  good  reasons  and  sound  evidence  are  most  lacking.  One  need 
not  go  farther  afield  for  an  illustration  than  the  pages  he  reads  whose 
forms  are  taught  on  authority  because  they  cannot  well  be  taught 
through  reason.  It  is  not  too  much  to  affirm  that  the  decadence  of 
authority  and  the  rise  of  appeal  to  individual  and  independent  reason 
have  been  directly  proportionate  to  the  amount  of  good  evidence  that 
could  be  commanded.  True  scientific  education  is  leading  on  fe- 
licitously to  individual  and  independent  intellectual  action,  because 
science  has  an  adequate  body  of  irrefragible  evidence  to  offer,  and 
having  such  evidence  can  most  freely  leave  everyone  to  draw  his  own 
conclusions.  Under  the  wholesome  influence  of  scientific  education, 
the  rising  generation  is  coming  to  fulfil  more  and  more  effectually  the 
first  admonition  of  our  text:  Let  everyone  stand  on  his  own  feet. 
The  preacher  need  only  exhort  to  a  continuance  in  well-doing. 

The  burden  of  our  sermon  rests  on  the  second  part  of  the  text: 
Let  everyone  keep  his  feet  on  the  ground.  I  would  not  have  you  put 
too  literal  and  too  narrow  an  interpretation  on  this  injunction.  It 
is  not  intended  to  mean  that  a  man  must  always  stand  with  both  heels 
on  the  solid  rock  of  demonstrated  facts.     That  is  too  conservative, 

(472) 


163 

and  would  prevent  his  getting  on.  It  is  lawful  for  a  man  to  stride 
after  truth,  to  tiptoe  for  it,  and  even  to  leap  after  it.  If  he  can  keep 
his  balance  well,  and  light  safely  on  his  feet,  it  is  permissible  to  leap 
high  and  far.  It  is  lawful  to  take  as  long  philosophical  or  speculative 
flights  as  one  may  be  able  to  sustain,  provided  he  starts  from  the 
ground  and  returns  to  it  without  disaster.  The  admonition  is  not 
that  we  should  limit  our  studies  wholly  to  the  demonstrated  conclu- 
sions that  form  strict  science,  as  distinguished  from  tentative  en- 
deavors to  attain  science,  but  that  we  should  keep  in  touch  with 
realities  in  our  efforts  to  hnd  truth.  In  our  use  of  the  term. scientific, 
in  this  preachment,  we  include  not  only  strict  science  but  all  properly 
ordered  stages  and  processes  of  thought  that  lead  toward  science,  even 
though  merely  provisional  and  temporary,  if  controlled  bv  scientific 
canons.  It  includes  scientific  philosophy  and  scientific  speculation 
when  these  start  from  scientific  facts  and  properlv  strive  to  end  in 
scientific  demonstrations.  The  admonition  is  not  intended  to  limit 
the  range  of  processes  so  much  as  their  character.  We  have  need  of 
every  possible  resource  that  helps  on  toward  real  science.  We  wish 
only  to  exclude  from  the  scientific  category  those  methods  which  do 
not  conform  to  the  canons  of  scientific  endeavor,  those  that  are  not 
helpful  to  scientific  results,  those  that  are  liable  to  create  confusion  as 
to  what  is  scientific  and  those  that  are  sure  to  involve  wastage  of 
talent  and  effort.  We  shall  be  more  free  to  use  hypotheses  and  specu- 
lations controlled  by  the  canons  of  scientific  procedure,  if  they  are  not 
confounded  with  hypotheses  and  speculations  that  ignore  such  canons 
and  cast  the  shadow  of  their  untrustworthiness  over  the  whole  field 
of  hypothesis  and  speculation.  There  are  hypotheses  and  speculations 
that  as  scrupulously  scrutinize  the  grounds  on  which  thev  are  built  as 
does  science  itself.  These  are  ever  and  always  mindful  of  their  hypo- 
thetical bases  and  of  the  scantiness  of  solid  substance  on  which  they 
are  built.  They  are  ever  mindful  of  the  insecurities  of  the  heights  to 
which  they  are  reaching,  and  of  the  accumulating  peril  of  that  inse- 
curity as  the  extension  proceeds. 

These  stand  in  sharp  contrast  to  hypotheses  and  speculations 
which  are  negligent  of  the  ground  on  which  they  are  built.  They 
stand  in  especial  contrast  to  those  which  confessedly  assume  that, 
regardless  of  a  foundation  in  embodied  reality,  the  building  of  the 
mental  structure 'may  go  on  indefinitely  by  virtue  of  its  own  logical 
relations,  and  may  even  become  a  substantial  system  of  truth,  whether 
the  grotmd-proposition  be  a  fact  or  a  fancy.  These  we  would  have 
labeled  by  some  other  term  than  scientific,  since  their  methods  are  at 
variance  with  those  that  have  been  found  indispensable  in  the  pro- 
duction of  science  in  the  fields  where  tangible  demonstrations  most 
effectually  discriminate  between  that  which  is  true  and  that  which  is 
not.     Such  hypotheses  overlook  the  fact  that  every  logical  step  only 

(473) 


164 

extends  the  weakness  of  the  fundamental  postulate  and  that  the  more 
rigorously  consistent  the  successive  steps  are,  the  more  certainly  do 
they  retain  the  error  of  the  primary  assumption.  These  are  cases  in 
which  a  logical  slip  affords  some  little  opportunity  for  the  funda- 
mental error  to  slip  out. 

Science  has  acquired  title  to  its  name  and  has  earned  the  equity  of 
its  usage  and  good  will  by  long  continued  labors  and  sacrifices  of  a 
distinctive  kind.  The  canons  of  method  and  of  ethics  that  have  con- 
trolled these  labors  and  sacrifices  have  given  a  distinctive  character 
to  the  products  commonly  known  as  science,  and  these  have  acquired 
value  because  they  have  approved  themselves  in  experience.  Similar 
value,  so  far  as  we  know,  can  only  be  produced  by  similar  processes. 
It  is  therefore  not  only  right  but  important  to  us  and  to  mankind  that 
the  title  thus  earned  should  be  applied  exclusively  to  the  processes 
and  products  that  have  given  it  value.  It  is  not  at  all  a  matter  of 
etymology  or  of  sometime  usage ;  it  is  a  matter  of  rights  and  values 
earned  by  labor.  Nor  it  is  at  all  a  matter  of  subject,  within  the  range 
of  embodied  realities,  whether  the  subject  be  mental  or  physical. 
Nor  does  it  necessarily  involve  the  presumption  that  the  non-scien- 
tific is  without  value,  even  eminent  value.  It  merely  involves  the 
assumption  that  each  belongs  to  its  own  category,  is  entitled  to  its  own 
name  derived  from  its  distinctive  modes  and  processes,  and  that  the 
product  of  the  distinctive  labors  of  each  should  be  its  own  possession. 
The  essential  canons  of  scientific  procedure  are : 

(1)  Certain  assumptions  are  necessarily  made  at  the  outset,  as 
the  basis  of  scientific  procedure.  They  are  usually  quite  unconscious 
because  they  are  so  pervasive  and  organic  that  they  have  become 
essentially  instinctive.  They  deserve  to  be  brought  into  sharper 
recognition.  They  are  not  different  from  the  universal  assumptions 
of  all  sane  people  in  the  common  affairs  of  life.  They  appear  to  be 
ancestral  inheritances,  and  this  is  doubtless  why  they  have  so  nearly 
lapsed  into  unconsciousness.  They  are  an  essential  element  in  what 
we  call  common  sense;  indeed  I  think  some  one  has  said  that  science 
is  only  a  specially  selected  and  carefully  assorted  variety  of  sanctified 
common  sense.  But  in  the  course  of  their  ratiocinations  men  often 
come  about  to  propositions  not  in  harmony  with  these  and  fail  to  note 
the  incongruity  because  the  basal  assumptions  are  so  nearly  uncon- 
scious. Scientific  inquiry,  though  eminently  skeptical  in  its  methods, 
proceeds  on  the  assumption  that  the  system  in  which  we  live  is  genu- 
ine, honest  and  real.  It  assumes  that  there  really  is,  as  our  senses 
lead  to  us  believe,  a  physical  world  and  a  mental  world;  that  the 
mental  world  takes  genuine  cognizance  of  the  physical  world  and  of 
itself,  and  that  such  cognizance,  when  duly  tested  and  rectified,  con- 
stitutes the  basis  of  science.  It  is  assumed  that  the  mental  world 
possesses  not  only  the  power  of  true  cognizance  but  the  power  of  self- 

(474) 


165 

directed  search  'for  truth,  and  as  a  necessary  means  to  this,  has  the 
power  to  choose  between  alternatives,  to  control  conditions,  to  invent 
methods,  to  put  its  impressions  to  the  test,  and  to  discriminate  between 
what  is  true  and  what  is  false.  That  which  is  in  accord  with  rectified 
experience  is  accepted  as  the  material  of  science.  Such  accord  is 
indeed  the  best  definition  of  science.  These  sound  like  platitudes,  as 
indeed  they  are  to  us,  but  not  a  Httle  that  claims  a  place  under  the 
broad  mantle  of  the  term  scientific  is  negligent  of  these  basal  assump- 
tions. It  is  well  therefore  to  remind  ourselves  that  as  the  very  basis 
of  research,  we  assume  a  genuine  volition  with  a  working  degree  of 
freedom,  not  a  mere  sophistical  succession  of  highest-motive  sequences ; 
a  genuine  intelligence  with  powers  of  discrimination  between  truth 
and  error,  not  a  mere  predetermined  succession  of  compulsory  im- 
pressions, and  a  genuine  world  of  real  existences,  not  a  mere  com- 
plexity of  subjective  illusions.  I  am  not  speaking  here  the  ultimate 
truth  about  these  matters,  but  simply  what  seems  to  me  the  assump- 
tions actually  made.  Our  belief  in  the  honesty  of  the  system  of  which 
we  find  ourselves  members  compasses  the  genuineness  of  our  strongest 
organic  impressions  on  both  the  mental  and  the  physical  side.  In  the 
normal  state,  we  recognize  no  organic  illusiveness,  nor  any  Mephisto- 
phelian  deceptiveness.  We  plant  our  feet  squarely  on  the  postulate 
that  the  system  of  the  world  is  essentially  what  it  purports  to  be.  It 
is  admitted  erroneous  impressions  may  be  gained  both  in  respect  to 
the  mental  and  the  physcial,  and  these  constitute  the  antitheses  of 
science,  and  are  made  the  subjects  of  the  closest  watch,  but  they  are 
held  to  be  incidental,  and  not  organic  or  fundamental.  They  grow 
most  largely  out  of  the  fact  that  our  organism  is  incapable  of  receiving 
impressions  from  more  than  a  minute  fraction  of  the  activities  by 
which  it  is  surrounded,  and  hence  it  has  become  adjusted  to  a  select 
portion  of  possible  impressions  which  chiefly  include  those  most 
needed  in  common  life;  the  susceptibility  to  those  even  is  incomplete. 
It  is  difficult  to  see  how  it  could  well  be  otherwise.  An  organism  that 
should  do  no  more  than  take  accurate  cognizance  of  all  the  physical 
motions  by  which  we  are  surrounded,  from  the  complicated  revolutions 
of  the  siderial  system  down  to  the  immeasurably  intense  sub-atomic 
vibrations,  would  need  powers  of  receptivity  and  endurance  quite 
beyond  our  comprehension.  We  are  limited  to  what  we  can  stand. 
But  when  we  shall  have  need  to  go  below  and  beyond  the  selected 
range  of  impressions  suited  to  everyday  life,  a  multitude  of  mental 
shortcomings  are  inevitably  disclosed.  With  the  evolution  of  our 
organism  we  are  endeavoring  to  extend  our  powers  and  to  penetrate 
beyond  the  limited  range  of  insight  of  our  cruder  life.  There  are 
indeed,  incidentally,  some  real  illusions,  if  the  mind  is  not  alert  and 
skilful,  and  there  are  individual  insanities.  But  all  these,  we  assume, 
arise  from  limitations  simply,  not  from  insincerities  in  nature,  nor  from 

(475) 


166 

insanities  in  the  normal  mind,  much  less  from  Mephistophelian  snares 
systematically  organized  for  our  deception. 

These  assumptions  do  not  by  any  means  carry  the  conclusion  that 
the  partial  vision  of  things  that  we  now  have,  is  the  ulterior  one,  or 
that  it  gives  the  deeper  interpretation  of  things.  My  belief  in  the 
genuineness  of  a  stone  as  a  hard  solid  passive  body,  does  not  preclude 
my  belief  that  it  is  composed  of  myriads  of  electrons  moving  at  in- 
credible speed,  and  that  it  is  a  very  miracle  of  internal  activity. 
It  is  true  that  the  refined  intra-physical  interpretation  is  almost 
infinitely  different  from  the  common  superficial  impression,  but  the 
two  are  not  at  real  variance.  To  the  mason,  the  petrologist  and  the 
physicist,  three  different  impressions  of  a  rock  arise,  each  true  enough 
in  its  kind,  and  all  essentially  consistent  with  one  another.  So  in 
general.  What  the  ulterior  interpretation  of  the  mental  and  the 
physical  world  is  to  be,  and  what  their  relations  to  one  another  may 
be,  is  yet  to  be  worked  out,  like  the  deeper  interpretations  of  all  other 
subjects  of  inquiry,  but  if  the  solution  is  to  be  what  we  now  regard 
as  scientific,  the  inquiry  must  be  based  on  the  working  assumptions  of 
existing  science  and  must  follow  its  canons  in  all  its  procedure.  If  the 
solution  is  to  be  found  in  some  philosophy  whose  assumptions  and 
methods  are  not  those  of  existing  science,  it  should  be  accredited  to 
such  philosophy  and  not  to  science.  If  it  is  to  be  found  in  some  poetic 
or  spiritual  inspiration  quite  apart  from  science  or  philosophy,  it  is  to 
be  accredited  to  such  inspiration  and  not  to  science  or  philosophy. 
To  the  laborer  belong  the  fruits  of  his  labor. 

(2)  Working  upon  these  basal  assumptions  of  the  rectified 
common  sense  of  mankind,  the  devotees  of  the  scientific  method  have 
built  up,  by  the  most  careful  and  persistent  observation  and  experi- 
mentation and  by  the  most  scrupulous  scrutiny  of  all  deductive  and 
inductive  processes  at  every  stage,  traversed  by  a  most  insistent  test- 
ing of  each  step  from  every  point  of  view,  that  body  of  conclusions 
which  we  call  science.  This  has  its  most  substantial  nucleus  in  the 
tangible  subjects  represented  in  this  assembly,  as  is  properly  recognized 
in  the  classification  of  this  occasion ;  but  it  is  by  no  means  confined  to 
these  subjects.  Science  is  not  a  function  of  subjects,  but  rather  the 
distinctive  product  of  a  special  and  laborious  rnethod.  The  distinc- 
tive title,  "the  sciences, "  has  come  to  be  applied  more  particularly  to 
the  group  of  subjects  here  represented  chiefly  because  the  workers  in 
these  have  been  more  rigorously  loyal  to  the  distinctive  assumptions 
and  methods  of  science  and  have  thereby  brought  forth  a  product  of 
exceptional  firmness  and  solidity.  The  same  method  carried  out  with 
the  same  loyalty  and  assiduity  should  give  to  the  sciences  of  the 
mental  world  a  like  solidity  and  a  like  true  title  to  the  name  of  science. 

(3)  But  if  the  scientifically-sifted  products  of  labor  on  all  serious 
subjects  are  to  be  classed  as  science,  the  unsifted  matter  and  the  mat- 

(476) 


167 

ter  which  will  not  bear  sifting  in  all  these  subjects  is  neither  to  be 
called  science  nor  scientific.  Even  if  we  generously  allow  that  all 
serious  effort  to  reach  determinate  truth  by  canons  of  scientific  pro- 
cedure mav  be  called  scientific  though  yet  far  from  being  science, 
there  is  still  much  that  lies  quite  outside  even  these  broad  limits. 
There  is  scattered  about  each  of  our  work-shops  no  small  amount  of 
litter  of  nondescript  stuff  that  ought  to  be  swept  up  and  winnowed 
out,  and  the  good  metal  put  into  the  melting  pot  and  the  rest  put  into 
the  fire,  or  thrown  on  the  dump.  We  have  all  inherited  a  miscellane- 
ous assortment  of  presumptions  and  prejudices  that  ought  to  be  put 
through  the  renovator  periodically  and  the  decayed  portions  elimi- 
nated. Even  our  more  substantial  acquisitions  need  occasional 
overhaulings,  and  even  reconstructions,  attended  by  no  small  sweep- 
ings-out of  accumulated  debris. 

Besides  all  this  there  is  a  whole  department  of  our  creative  work 
that  needs  some  other  label  than  scientific.  The  department  appears 
to  be  larger  in  the  non -physical  than  in  the  physical  fields,  but  it  is 
essentiallv  alike  in  both.  Its  basal  feature  is  assumption  in  negli- 
gence of  fact.  Its  best  expression  is  found  in  declared  romance  in 
the  field  of  the  humanities;  its  most  subtle  if  not  its  most  beguiling 
expression  is  found  in  ratiocination  on  a  fictitious  basis.  Your 
preacher  lavs  no  anathema  on  this  department.  On  the  contrary,  he 
svmpathizes  with  recreation  by  romance.  The  fictitious  may  well 
play  its  game  while  reality  takes  a  rest.  The  fantasy  may  well 
relieve  the  strain  on  the  scientific  imagination  at  due  times  and  seasons. 
Your  preacher's  plea  is  merely  for  accurate  labeling  and  correct 
evaluation.  We  all,  I  suppose,  indulge  in  ideal  constructions  with 
scant  regard  to  the  realities.  We  build  intellectual  castles  in  the  air 
of  rare  architectural  beauty,  but  with  very  limited  specific  gravity. 
A  hint  grows  into  a  marvellous  discovery.  We  dream  dreams  no 
mortal  dreamed  before.  There  is  a  romantic  annex  to  all  the  sciences. 
But  to  be  quite  satisfactory  the  fictitious  must  simulate  the  real. 
The  fantasy  must  imitate  the  scientific  imagination.  A  bare  result, 
however  rich  or  wonderful,  is  insufficient.  It  must  have  a  logical 
ancestry.  Our  creations  must  be  the  embodiment  of  logi'cal  relations. 
Our  novels  must  seem  to  be  true  to  our  life.  They  must  be  scientific. 
Aye,  there  we  go.  Thus  easily  we  slip  the  sheet-anchor  of  science,  em- 
bodied reality,  and  glide  away  unconsciously  on  a  mere  gust  of  ghostly 
relations  between  things  imaginary,  and  call  it  scientific.  I  suppose 
we  all  do  it.  I  confess  to  have  planted  in  every  grand  division  of  the 
globe  more  wonderful  mines  than  were  ever  found  in  Africa  or  Alaska, 
and  much  more  ostentatiously  logical  in  their  internal  relations.  I 
^"d  it  crude  entertainment  to  imagine  the  discovery  of  a  forty-foot 
vein,  three  miles  long,  carrying  twenty-three  thousand  dollars  per 
ton,  and  to  revel  in  the  sequential   wealth.     Logical   antecedents  and 

(477) 


168 

a  consistent  environment  must  be  supplied  to  form  an  artistic  romance. 
My  own  finest  efi'ort  in  this  line  started  in  a  real  dream  which  found 
me  in  London  where  two  explorers,  with  many  flattering  allusions  to 
scientific  availability,  told  me  of  certain  signs  they  had  seen  on  the 
Saharan  coast  of  West  Africa,  and  proposed  a  joint  investigation. 
The  real  dream  glided  easily  into  a  wakeful  romance,  and  an  ore 
deposit  of  the  Keweenawan  type,  with  gold  substituted  for  copper, 
grew  facilely  and  logically  out  of  the  antecedents  which  the  imagina- 
tion easily  postulated,  with  all  the  requisite  deformations,  vadose 
and  thermal  circu'ations,  selective  solutions,  complex  reactions, 
concentrative  precipitations,  under  mass  action,  with  segregations, 
primary  and  secondary,  lateral,  ascending  and  descending,  supple- 
mented by  meteoric  denudation,  giving  felicitous  physiographic 
reliefs,  in  short  the  whole  complex  of  antecendants  and  consequents 
and  logical  interrelations  necessary  for  an  ideal,  if  not  a  super-ideal, 
ore  deposit.  Foreseeing  the  necessary  consequences  of  such  appropri- 
ate antecedents  before  they  were  actually  discovered  by  my  partners, 
with  perfect  human  consistency,  I  diplomatically  bought  them  out 
and  became  sole  possessor.  In  the  actual  working  of  the  mine,  the 
logical  difficulties  of  the  situation  developed  consistently,  bringing  on 
scrimmages  with  the  marauding  natives  and  trouble  with  the  Bey  of 
Morocco.  In  negotiating  my  vast  output  the  logic  of  nativity  and 
blood  led  me  to  favor  America  and  England,  and  this  raised  a  rumpus 
with  the  Kaiser.  But  through  all  vicissitudes  of  good  and  ill  the 
logical  interrelations  were  religiously  preserved.  I  dare  not  say  they 
were  as  rigorous  as  those  which  my  mathematical  friends  assure  me 
characterize  the  non-EucHdian  geometry,  but  at  least  I  did  not  strain 
the  possibilities  in  my  primary  postulate  and  in  the  outcome  every  one 
of  my  triangles  bore  internally  the  equivalents  of  precisely  two  right 
angles. 

But  in  sober  classification  I  would  not  call  even  this  best  of  my 
creations  scientific.  It  lacks  the  one  essential  of  substantial  reahty. 
I  am  just  as  poor  a  man  as  I  was  before.  If  scientific  in  any  sense  of 
the  term,  it  must  be  in  that  employed  in  the  "sciences  of  the  ideal. " 
In  a  recent  most  distinguished  and  authoritative  exposition  of  "The 
Sciences  of  the  Ideal"  we  were  led  to  understand  that  science  might 
be  developed  from  assumptions  that  possess  "but  a  remote  relation 
to  the  physical  world."  With  apologies  to  the  mathematicians  for 
the  quotation,  the  following  were  among  the  words  used: 

"Pure  mathematics  is  concerned  with  the  investigation  of  logical 
consequences  of  certain  exactly  statable  postulates  or  hypotheses. 
*  *  *  For  the  pure  mathematician,  the  truth  of  these  hypotheses 
or  postulates  depends,  not  upon  the  fact  that  physical  nature  contains 
phenomena  answering  to  the  postulates,  but  solely  upon  the  fact  that 
the  mathematician  is  able,  with  rational  consistency,  to  state  these 

(478) 


169 

assumed  first  principles,  and  to  develop  their  consequences."  I 
think  mv  Saharan  mine  was  a  rational  statability  and  that  I  devel- 
oped the  logical  consequences. 

I  do  not  conceive  science  to  be  such  as  this.  Ideas  and  ideals 
seem  to  me  to  be  realities  as  thinking  events,  but  they  do  not  bring 
into  existence  the  subjects  of  thought — unless  these  be  themselves. 
I  hold  that  demonstrable  logical  relations  are  as  much  embodiments 
in  the  svstem  of  things  as  are  the  materials,  energies  and  motions  of 
the  svstem,  and  that  our  primary  perception  of  the  logical  comes  from 
such  embodiment  as  truly  as  our  perceptions  of  matter,  energy  and 
motion.  For  convenience  we  will  generalize  all  these  by  neglecting 
the  complexities  of  special  concrete  embodiments  and  thus  we  reduce 
them  as  nearly  as  practicable  to  what  we  call  the  abstract,  but  the 
essential  element  of  concreteness  in  its  most  generalized  form  is  re- 
tained and  holds  the  intellectual  process  to  the  limitations  and  re- 
lations of  the  concrete,  or  else,  I  think,  there  is  no  safety  in  either  the 
processes  or  the  conclusions.  Doubtless  this  statement  is  liable  to 
misapprehension,  for  in  this  field  of  thought  one  must  adapt  speech 
to  unwonted  uses  to  which  another  has  no  accurate  key.  Doubtless 
the  proposition,  if  correctly  apprehended,  might  be  challenged.  Let 
us  therefore  return  to  the  safer  ground  of  the  more  tangible. 

The  scientific  and  the  non-scientific,  as  I  see  the  matter,  are  dis- 
tinguished from  one  another  at  the  very  first  step  of  procedure.  The 
initial  step  in  scientific  procedure  is  to  look  to  the  facts.  If  the  pro- 
cedure lies  far  out  on  the  borders  of  the  scientific  field,  where  facts  are 
few  and  ratiocination  is  to  make  up  most  of  the  procedure,  it  is  all  the 
more  requisite  that  such  few  facts  as  there  are  be  brought  into  the 
process  and  used  with  the  greatest  assiduity  and  the  most  scrupulous 
circumspection.  It  is  furthermore  necessary  that  such  assumptions 
as  are  not  directly  supported  by  available  facts  shall  be  scrupulously 
accordant  with  well-determined  principles,  and  that  these  principles 
be  known  to  be  habitually  embodied  in  the  field  in  which  the  problem 
lies.  An  assumption  at  variance  with,  or  aside  from,  the  established 
principles  of  the  field  involved,  carries  the  whole  procedure  outside 
the  realm  of  science,  as  I  understand  science,  and  into  the  field  of 
romance. 

In  the  good  old  school-days,  mathematical  romance  was  closely 
mingled  with  the  mathematics  of  reality.  Mental  arithmetic  was  held 
to  be  a  superlative  discipline,  and  with  some  justice,  but  questions  of 
the  following  kind  found  a  place  with  those  of  better  birth:  "If  the 
third  of  six  were  three,  what  would  the  fourth  of  twenty  be?" 
These  questions  were  held  sufficiently  important  to  find  a  place  in 
teachers'  examinations  and  I  encountered  one  in  my  first  candidacy 
for  a  certificate .  I  have  never  been  ashamed  that ,  at  the  risk  of  results , 
for  I  understood  perfectly  what  was  meant,  I  answered  substantially 

(479) 


170 

that  the  fourth  of  twenty  is  five  under  any  and  all  circumstances  and 
is  in  no  way  affected  by  erroneous  suppositions  about  the  third  of  six. 
The  first  part  of  the  question  assumed  organic  insanity,  the  second 
part  assumed  a  return  to  partial  sanity  in  the  subsequent  pro- 
ceeding, but  not  to  complete  sanity.  To  preserve  a  consistent 
basis  of  procedure,  such  a  question  should  read  something  like  this: 
If  a  mind  were  so  insanely  constituted  that  it  supposes  the  third  of 
six  is  three  and  if  it  were  proportionately  insane  respecting  other 
mathematical  relations,  what  would  be  its  insane  conception  of  the 
fourth  of  twenty?  In  my  own  field  there  is  an  embarrassment  of 
illustrative  cases  of  the  like  import, but  you  cannot  fairly  be  supposed 
to  have  made  the  personal  acquaintance  of  such  a  multitude  of  un- 
fortunates, and  besides  the  edges  and  angles  of  the  few  in  the  mathe- 
matical field  are  cleaner  cut  and  keener,  and  that  is  doubtless  why  the 
philosopher  of  the  ideal  and  he  of  earth  alike  have  recourse  to  them. 
To  me  it  seems  that  if  the  logical  system  of  thought  on  which  mathe- 
matics is  founded  be  in  organic  error  in  one  vital  particular,  the  rest 
of  the  system  carries  no  presumption  of  trustworthiness.  And  so 
generally,  if  the  mind  permits  itself  to  go  outside  the  existing  order  of 
things  in  its  adoption  of  an  imaginary  postulate  not  strictly  in  har- 
mony with  known  entities  and  relations,  there  is  little  more  ground  for 
confidence  in  its  processes  than  in  its  assumptions.  The  sanction  of 
sanity  rests  as  much  with  postulates  as  processes.  The  canons  of 
scientific  procedure  require  that  both  shall  be  tested  to  the  utmost 
before  adoption,  all  the  more  so  in  proportion  as  they  may  be  lacking 
in  the  support  of  a  body  of  determinate  facts.  If  an  intellectual 
structure  is  to  be  built  on  a  slender  basis,  it  is  the  more  important  that 
the  basis  be  solid  and  strong.  No  strength  is  acquired  in  mid-air, 
unless  new  attachments  to  substantial  truth  are  added. 

(4)  Not  only  does  the  scientific  procedure  require  special  circum- 
spection relative  to  the  foundation,  but  further  scrutiny  at  every 
step  with  constant  loyalty  to  embodied  facts  and  principles.  If  any 
term  is  allowed  to  slip  outside  the  limits  of  actual  or  symbolic  reality 
into  strict  unreality,  there  is,  I  think,  no  dependence  on  the  results. 
If  at  any  stage,  a  ghostly  factor  is  permitted  to  replace  a  concrete 
factor,  or  its  generalized  substitute  or  symbol,  a  ghostly  result  is  likely 
to  follow.  In  the  physical  sciences,  the  chief  preventive  of  and  remedy 
for  insidious  errors  of  all  kinds  is  an  unceasing  testing  of  every  step 
by  related  phenomena  or  by  crucial  experimentation.  The  logical 
process  by  itself  commands  but  little  confidence  beyond  the  simpler 
steps,  because  experience  has  disclosed  a  multitude  of  pitfalls  set  all 
along  its  path  and  has  revealed  its  oft-occurring  incompetency.  Why 
should  we  rest  much  on  unassisted  logic  in  the  solution  of  the  complex 
problems  of  the  world,  when  it  must  be  conceded  that  all  the  powers 
of  ratiocination  that  came  into  function  between  the  days  of  the  Para- 

(480) 


171 

doxides  and  the  present,  working  alone,  unaided  by  experimental 
means,  would  scarcely  have  discovered  the  elements  or  the  internal 
logical  relations  of  a  pinch  of  salt  ?  Workers  in  the  physical  field  long 
ago  learned  that  they  must  keep  in  close  touch  with  concrete  realities. 
They  have  found  this  especially  necessary  in  such  exploratory  work 
as  involves  hypotheses  and  logical  deductions  when  facts  are  yet  few 
and  poorly  determined.  Safety  here,  so  far  as  there  is  any  safety, 
depends  on  a  constant  recurrence  to  such  facts  as  are  available, 
conjoined  with  an  ever-present  realization  of  the  uncertain  basis  of 
the  whole  procedure. 

To  the  worker  in  the  field  of  substantial  science  the  following  is  a 
sufficient  working  guide :  Whatever  has  been  embodied  in  the  system  of 
things  of  which  we  are  a  part,  may  be  asstim-ed  to  be  a  worthy  subject  of 
research;  whatever  has  not  been  so  embodied  may  be  safely  neglected,  even 
if  we  could  suppose  ourselves  competent  to  deal  with  it.  A  preacher 
mav  be  allowed  to  put  it  thus:  Whatever  the  Divine  Artificer  has  seen 
fit  to  use  in  the  making  of  the  system,  we  may  safely  study;  whatever  He 
found  no  use  for,  we  may  safely  conclude  has  no  value  for  tis. 

Accepting  as  a  primary  tenet  of  faith  that  the  system  is  genuine 
and  honest,  that  our  powers  are  adapted  to  give  us  true  results  when 
properlv  used,  that  it  is  our  mission  to  use  them,  and  that  the  highest 
productiveness  comes  from  the  closest  contact  with  actualities  of  the 
svstem,  we  bid  all  workers  join  us  in  loyalty  to  these  articles  of  faith 
and  in  fidelitv  to  these  working  maxims.  Let  each  enjoy  the  inde- 
pendence of  a  free  worker,  but  let  each  accept  loyally  the  realities 
he  cannot  escape.  Let  everyone  stand  on  his  own  feet,  and  let  everyone 
keep  his  feet  on  the  ground. 


(481. 


172 


ASSEMBLY  OF  THE  COLLEGE  OF  AGRICULTURE 
Morrow  Hall,  10:00  a.m. 


SERVICES  OF  NORMAN  J.  COLMAN  TO  AMERICAN 
AGRICULTURE 

Colonel  Charles  F.  Mills 
Editor  of  the  Farm  Home,  Springfield 

The  very  pleasant  duty  has  been  assigned  me  of  briefly  referring 
on  this  very  appropriate  occasion  and  place  to  the  services  of  Norman 
Jay  Colman  to  American  agriculture.  The  honor  of  my  selection  for 
this  very  agreeable  duty  is  highly  appreciated,  and  I  enter  upon  its 
discharge  with  the  conviction  that  the  man  and  his  eminent  services  to 
American  agriculture  are  deserving  of  a  far  more  gifted  compiler. 

To  the  student  of  our  literature  pertaining  to  the  farm,  Mr.  Colman 
is  well  and  widely  known  as  second  to  none  of  the  active  and  successful 
promoters  of  American  agriculture.  The  very  full  reports  of  the 
highly  creditable  and  far  reaching  work  for  good  of  Mr.  Colman,  in 
advancing  the  best  conditions  of  our  agriculture,  are  well  known  to 
this  assembly.  It  is  fortunate  for  the  interested  student  that  the 
results  of  his  labors  have  been  so  fully  and  widely  published  in  the 
official  records  of  the  National  and  State  Departments  of  Agriculture, 
the  farm  press  and  in  the  books  relating  to  advanced  methods  in  rural 
husbandry. 

My  effort  will  therefore  be  that  of  a  compiler  of  the  historical  data 
necessary  to  complete  the  record  for  this  occasion.  All  present,  I 
believe,  will  rejoice  in  this  fitting  opportunity  to  refer  to  the  familiar 
and  worthy  achievements  of  a  patriotic,  painstaking  man  who  has 
merited  the  distinguished  honors  so  freely  bestowed  upon  him  by  a 
conservative,  discriminating  and  appreciative  constituency. 

Mr.  Colman  was  born  on  a  farm  near  Richfield  Springs,  Otsego 
county.  New  York,  and  his  abiding  interest  in  farming  pursuits  has 
never  been  questioned.  From  an  early  age  he  was  a  diligent  student, 
reading  every  volume  in  the  common  school  library  in  his  school 
district  before  the  age  of  sixteen,  and  carrying  on  his  other  studies  in 
his  thoroughly  characteristic  manner.  He  worked  his  way  through 
school  by  teaching  in  winter  and  attending  the  seminaries  in  the 
vicinity  in  summer,  until  twenty  3^ears  of  age,  when  his  ambition  to 
identify  himself  with  the  growing  West  influenced  him  to  remove  to 
Kentucky.  Here  he  taught  school  in  Louisville  and  thus  provided 
himself  with  means  to  attend  the  Louisville  Law  University,  where  he 
took  the  degree  of  bachelor  of  law  and  later  was  licensed  as  an  attor- 
ney. He  practiced  law  at  New  Albany,  Indiana,  and  was  elected  dis- 
trict attorney.     In  1852,  young  Colman  removed  to  St.  Louis,  con- 

(482) 


173 

tinuing  in  the  successful  practice  of  his  profession.  His  love  for  rural 
pursuits  soon  induced  him  to  purchase  a  country  home,  and  establish 
an  agricultural  journal  known  as  Caiman's  Rural  World,  now  of 
national  reputation  as  an  influential  exponent  of  the  best  methods  in 
all  that  pertains  to  advanced  agriculture. 

He  soon  became  a  prominent  leader  and  advocate  of  agricultural 
progress  in  the  Mississippi  Valley.  He  was  called  upon  to  take  an 
active  part  in  every  movement  in  behalf  of  the  interests  of  the  farmer, 
and  became  generally  known  as  a  forceful  and  eloquent  advocate  of 
better  methods  in  farming  and  of  state  and  national  legislation  needed 
to  give  the  producer  the  full  return  for  his  labors. 

His  loyalty  to  his  constituency  and  his  unswerving  devotion  to  the 
fanners'  interest  prompted  the  agricultural  classes  to  secure  him  the 
following  well-merited  honors,  viz:  a  member  of  the  Missouri  Legis- 
lature, Lieutenant-Governor  of  his  state,  president  of  the  Missouri 
State  Horticultural  Society,  president  of  the  Missouri  State  Board  of 
Agriculture,  trustee  for  fifteen  years  of  the  Missouri  State  University, 
president  of  the  Missouri  State  Press  Association  for  two  terms.  United 
States  Commissioner  of  Agriculture,  and  when  the  United  States  De- 
partment of  Agriculture  was  created  he  was  made  the  first  secretary. 

But  few  persons  appreciate  the  magnitude  of  the  work  accom- 
plished by  Mr.  Colman  in  behalf  of  our  agricultural  interests.  It  was 
more  than  a  score  of  years  ago,  that  he  took  his  seat  as  United  States 
Commissioner  of  Agriculture,  under  the  appointment  of  President 
Grover  Cleveland.  At  that  time  the  standing  of  the  department  was 
low.  It  was  the  butt  of  ridicule  of  the  Washington  correspondents 
of  the  public  press.  The  great  interests  it  represented  had  no  voice 
in  the  President's  cabinet.  Not  a  single  government  experiment 
station  existed  in  connection  with  an  agricultural  college  or  university 
in  the  United  States.  Many  of  the  most  important  and  useful 
divisions  now  existing  in  the  department  had  never  been  thought  of, 
or  at  least  established.  At  that  time  also  that  terrible  and  incurable 
disease  of  contagious  pleuro-pneumonia  existed  among  our  dairy 
herds  and  in  cattle  yards  in  various  parts  of  the  United  States. 

It  was  a  critical  period  in  the  history  of  the  department,  and  it 
needed  a  man  of  great  administrative  and  executive  ability  to  place  it 
in  that  position  which  the  great  interests  it  represented  entitled  it  to 
occupy. 

Fortunately,  the  right  man  was  found  to  take  charge  of  it  and  place 
it  on  the  high  plane  it  should  occupy.  Its  elevation  could  be  made  only 
by  slow  degrees.  Congress  must  furnish  every  dollar  required  to  raise 
the  quality  of  the  work  and  expand  it.  Great  diplomacy  was  necessary 
to  secure  the  proper  appropriations.  It  was  only  by  showing  Congress 
the  value  of  the  work  being  accomplished  that  new  and  increased 
appropriations  could  be  secured. 

(483) 


174 

Mr.  Colman  was  well  equipped  for  the  important  work  to  which  he 
was  assigned.  For  more  than  thirty  years  prior  to  his  appointment 
he  had  been  editor  of  the  leading  agricultural  paper  of  the  Mississippi 
Valley.  He  had  discussed  not  only  with  pen,  but  with  tongue,  the 
great  problems  that  confronted  the  farmers,  and  that  were  identified 
with  their  interests.  He  was  a  forcible  and  eloquent  speaker,  and 
always  held  the  rapt  attention  of  his  listeners.  But  few  public  meetings 
in  his  section  were  held  where  agricultural  interests  were  considered 
at  which  he  was  not  one  of  the  invited  speakers.  Having  been  born 
and  brought  up  on  a  farm,  and  having  been  a  practical,  as  well  as 
theoretical  farmer  all  his  life,  he  was  in  close  touch  and  sympathy 
with  his  brother  farmers.  He  knew  their  needs  and  also  what  was 
necessary  to  be  done  to  secure  them.  He  was  well  aware  of  the  great 
prejudice  existing  against  theoretical  farming,  or  "book  larnin'  "  as  it 
is  sometimes  called,  then  existing  to  a  far  greater  extent  than  at  the 
present  day.  He  had  had  legislative  experience,  which  was  of  much 
value  in  enabling  him  to  deal  with  Congress,  in  order  to  secure  proper 
appropriations  to  elevate  the  standard  of  the  department.  He  had 
served  as  a  member  of  the  legislature  of  his  state,  and  also  as  Lieu- 
tenant-Governor, presiding  over  the  senate. 

We  have  presented  these  facts  in  order  to  show  how  well  equipped 
he  was  to  fill  the  important  position  to  which  he  had  been  elevated, 
and  it  was  to  this  admirable  equipment  that  his  great  success  was 
attributable. 

He  repeatedly  told  us  that  in  accepting  the  office  his  highest 
ambition  would  be  achieved,  if  he  could  secure  government  experiment 
stations,  or  experimental  farms  in  connection  with  our  agricultural 
colleges,  so  that  practical  and  scientific  agriculture  could  walk  hand 
in  hand,  and  thus  obviate  the  prejudice  which  existed  against  scientific 
farming.  The  other  object  of  his  ambition  was  to  make  the  depart- 
ment worthy  of  becoming  one  of  the  great  executive  departments  of 
the  government,  with  a  voice  in  the  President's  cabinet,  during  his 
administration.  By  his  wise  administration  of  the  office,  both  houses 
of  Congress  passed  a  bill  almost  unanimously,  creating  it  one  of  the 
great  executive  departments  of  the  government,  and  Mr.  Colman  had 
the  distinguished  honor  of  being  appointed  the  first  Secretary  of 
Agriculture. 

The  bill  establishing  experiment  stations  in  connection  with  our 
agricultural  colleges  was  also  passed,  and  the  stations  put  into  practical 
working  order  during  his  administration,  so  that  both  of  the  highest 
objects  of  his  ambition  were  accomplished. 

But  it  is  much  easier  to  tell  of  the  achievements  of  these  great 
objects  than  of  the  steps  that  had  to  be  taken  to  secure  them.  And 
first,  as  to  the  establishing  of  experiment  stations.  Feeling  that  it 
was  essential  to  achieve  the  cooperation  and  influence  of  the  agricul- 

(484) 


175 

tural  colleges  in  order  to  secure  the  passage  of  a  bill  through  Congress 
to  create  them,  Mr.  Colman,  not  long  after  taking  his  seat  as  Commis- 
sioner, issued  a  call  to  the  agricultural  colleges  in  every  state  of  the 
Union,  requesting  them  to  send  delegates  to  a  convention  to  be  held 
in  the  department  building  in  Washington,  July  8,  1885.  This  invi- 
tation was  accepted,  all  the  colleges  sending  delegates,  forming  what 
historv  will  proclaim  on  account  of  the  great  results  achieved  by  it, 
one  of  the  most  important  agricultural  conventions  ever  held.  By 
unanimous  vote  Mr.  Colman  was  chosen  president  of  the  convention, 
and  that  part  of  his  address  relating  to  experiment  stations  was 
referred  to  a  special  committee,  to  which  Mr.  Colman  was  afterward 
added,  and  that  committee  finally  reported  the  Experiment  Station 
bill,  which  was  afterwards  passed  by  Congress  and  approved  by  the 
President,  establishing  experiment  stations  in  every  state  in  the  Union. 
Mr.  Colman  thought  that  by  enlisting  the  cooperation  and  active  work 
of  each  of  the  agricultural  colleges  in  the  different  states  and  of  the 
senators  and  representatives  in  Congress,  such  a  bill  could  be  passed, 
and  the  result  was  a  justification  of  his  judgment. 

To  secure  the  passage  of  a  bill  evolving  the  department  into  one 
of  the  great  executive  departments  of  the  government  was  a  much 
more  difficult  task.  Mr.  Colman  knew^  that  this  could  only  be  accom- 
plished by  the  department  meriting  such  promotion.  It  must  be  made 
worthy  of  such  advancement.  It  would  take  too  much  space  to  give 
a  history  of  the  work  accomplished  by  him,  during  his  four  years' 
term  of  service.  We  can  only  refer  to  a  few  of  the  many  things 
secured  under  his  administration. 

The  first  matter  that  attracted  his  attention  was  the  stamping  out 
of  that  dread  disease  among  our  cattle,  known  as  contagious  pleuro- 
pneumonia. It  was  found  to  exist  in  nearly  twenty  states  of  this 
Union.  The  disease  is  incurable,  and  the  only  way  to  extirpate  it 
was  to  kill  every  affected  animal  and  every  animal  that  had  been 
exposed  to  an  affected  one.  Whole  herds  had  to  be  slaughtered. 
Of  course  great  opposition  was  raised  to  such  action,  but  the  heroic 
course  was  the  only  safe  way  to  proceed.  Millions  of  dollars  were 
required  to  pay  for  slaughtered  herds,  but  Congress  freely  made  the 
proper  appropriations,  and  this  dread  disease  was  practically  elimi- 
nated from  this  country  during  his  administration. 

The  great  fruit  growing  interests  of  the  nation  had  been  over- 
looked by  the  department,  and  one  of  his  first  acts  was  to  take  them 
under  consideration,  and  establish  a  division  of  pomology  to  look  after 
and  encourage  the  interests  of  the  fruit  growers  in  all  parts  of  the 
United  States.  It  has  become  one  of  the  leading  divisions  of  the 
department. 

Another  of  the  important  divisions  established  was  that  of  veg- 
etable pathology.     Vegetable  life  is  fully   as   subject  to   disease   as 

(485) 


176 

animal  life.  Mildews,  blights,  rusts,  smuts,  moulds  destroy  millions 
of  dollars  worth  of  crops  annually,  and  to  guard  against  these  dis- 
eases, and  to  give  remedies  for  them,  and  to  recommend  such  courses 
of  cultivation  as  to  avoid  them,  were  the  objects  of  Mr.  Colman  in 
starting  this  division. 

The  division  of  ornithology  and  mammalogy  was  also  established 
by  him  in  order  to  secure  information  as  to  which  varieties  of  birds 
and  smaller  animals  as  gophers,  moles,  minks,  skunks,  field  mice,  etc., 
were  friends,  and  which  were  enemies  to  the  farmer,  and  how  their 
depredations  might  be  prevented. 

The  division  of  United  States  experiment  stations  was  likewise 
established  by  him  to  take  advantage  of  and  utilize  the  vast  fund  of 
information  to  be  secured  at  the  various  experiment  stations  of  the 
different  states  of  the  Union,  so  as  to  make  it  available  to  those  most 
needing  it. 

But  it  was  not  only  in  establishing  new  divisions,  but  in  greatly 
extending  the  scope  of  those  that  existed  that  commended  his  work 
to  Congress  and  to  the  active  workers  in  the  cause  of  agricultural 
progress.  It  was  this  great  advancement  that  secured  the  confidence 
of  the  members  of  Congress  and  caused  them  to  aid  in  the  rapid  eleva- 
tion of  the  department. 

It  was,  however,  because  of  the  establishment  of  experiment  sta- 
tions throughout  the  states  of  the  Union,  and  the  elevation  of  the 
department  to  one  of  the  great  executive  departments  of  the  govern- 
ment, during  his  administration,  and  his  appointment  as  the  first 
Secretary  of  Agriculture,  that  Mr.  Colman  will  be  longest  and  most 
widely  known  and  remembered.  So  highly  was  his  work  appreciated 
that  the  Republic  of  France,  through  its  Minister  of  Agriculture, 
conferred  on  him  la  croix  d'  Officier  du  Merite  Agricole,  an  honor  which 
but  few  Americans  have  received. 

The  University  of  Missouri  at  its  late  commencement  exercises, 
in  recognition  of  his  services  to  the  cause  of  agriculture,  conferred  on 
him  the  honorary  degree  of  LL.  D.  The  Missouri  State  Horticultural 
Society,  at  its  last  session,  created  the  office  of  Honorary  Vice-Presi- 
dent, and  elected  him  to  fill  it  for  life,  as  a  slight  tribute  for  what  he 
had  done  in  behalf  of  pomology.  Such  appreciation  of  his  services 
during  his  lifetime  cannot  be  otherwise  than  most  agreeable  to  him. 

The  official  life  of  Mr.  Colman  referred  to  above  covers  but  a  small 
portion  of  his  useful  services  to  the  farmer  and  stockman.  Even  a 
brief  reference  to  the  helpful  services  rendered  the  farmers  of  the 
United  States  by  him  in  all  the  departments  of  rural  life  would  fill 
several  volumes. 

The  man  we  meet  to  honor  today  has  not  only  rendered  efficient 
and  acceptable  services  to  the  farmers  of  the  United  States  in  the 
various  state  and  national  positions  to  which  he  has  been  chosen  with 

(486) 


177 

such  heartv  unanimity,  but  he  has  made  an  enviable  reputation  in 
the  private  walks  of  life  as  a  good  farmer  and  a  successful  breeder  of 
the  best  types  of  registered  live  stock. 

This  brief  and  hastily  prepared  sketch  would  be  far  from  complete 
without  some  reference  to  his  long  and  highly  esteemed  services  as  a 
director  in  various  registration  and  other  live  stock  organizations, 
state  fairs,  industrial  expositions,  world's  fairs,  etc.,  but  the  time  at 
mv  command  will  not  allow  me  to  refer  to  them  further. 

The  distinguished  honor  bestowed  on  Mr  Colman  on  this  occasion 
bv  the  conferring  of  the  degree  of  doctor  of  agriculture  by  the  great 
University  of  Illinois,  has  been  well  earned.  His  earnest  and  success- 
ful advocacv  of  the  practice  of  the  best  methods  in  all  that  pertains  to 
rural  husbandry  contained  in  the  weekly  messages  he  has  sent  through 
Colman  s  Rural  World,  to  the  progressive  farmers  of  the  Mississippi 
Vallev  for  more  than  half  a  century  is  not  the  least  of  his  great  achieve- 
ments. 

His  writings  and  speeches  have  made  him  a  leader  in  the  campaign 
of  education  he  has  so  ably  conducted,  and  his  influence  for  good  in 
encouraging  the  residents  of  the  farm  to  obtain  the  best  results  in  the 
growing  of  crops,  breeding  of  live  stock  and  perfecting  the  high  stand- 
ard of  rural  citizenship  by  the  education  of  their  sons  and  daughters 
cannot  be  measured  or  overestimated.  All  the  honors  that  have  been 
conferred  upon  him  have  been  most  worthily  bestowed  and  particu- 
larly that  of  doctor  of  agriculture  conferred  by  this  University. 


(487) 


178 


ASSEMBLY  OF  THE  COLLEGE  OF  LAW 

Law  Building,  10:00  a.m. 


INTERNATIONAL  ARBITRATION 

Honorable  Jacob  McG.  Dickinson 
General  Counsel  of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Company,  Chicago 

In  1904  there  was  organized  in  Chicago  an  International  Arbitra- 
tion Society,  and  Doctor  Edmund  J.  James  was  elected  as  president 
and  at  present  holds  that  office.  Its  purpose  is  to  promote  the  policy 
of  submitting  international  disputes  to  impartial  courts  of  arbitration 
instead  of  the  decision  of  the  sword. 

Dr.  James  took  the  initiative  in  the  propaganda  in  the  Middle  West 
to  arouse  and  give  expression  to  public  sentiment  for  ratifying  the 
treaties  submitted  by  the  President  to  the  Senate  at  its  last  session, 
and  it  was  through  the  enthusiastic  and  self-sacrificing  efforts  of  him 
and  his  coworkers,  whose  zeal  he  aroused  and  constantly  stimulated, 
that  a  large  and  representative  meeting,  held  in  Chicago,  and  presided 
over  by  Mr.  Robert  Lincoln,  adopted  resolutions  favoring  the  exten- 
sion by  the  government  of  the  United  States  of  the  principle  of  inter- 
national arbitration  to  all  questions  which  cannot  otherwise  be  brought 
to  a  pacific  determination,  and  requesting  their  representatives  in 
the  United  States  Senate  to  exert  their  influence  in  behalf  of  such 
treaties  and  of  their  prompt  consideration  and  approval  by  the 
Senate. 

The  great  office  in  which  Dr.  James  has  just  been  installed,  will  not 
withdraw  him  from  the  humanitarian  work  of  endeavoring  to  realize 
the  wish  expressed  by  Washington  of  banishing  from  the  earth  war, 
which  he  denominated  a  "plague  to  mankind,"  but  rather  with  in- 
creased prestige,  will  consecrate  him  anew  to  the  noblest  aspiration 
that  can  in  respect  of  mundane  affairs  fill  the  mind  and  heart  of  man. 
At  the  Mohonk  Lake  conference  of  this  year,  attended  by  many  of  the 
most  distinguished  judges,  jurists,  diplomats,  educators  and  clergy- 
men of  the  nation,  and  presided  over  by  the  Honorable  George  Gray, 
on  the  motion  of  Dr.  Daniel  C.  Oilman,  it  was  unanimously  resolved  to 
suggest  to  the  universities  and  colleges  of  the  United  States  that 
concerted  efforts  be  put  forth  to  secure  among  undergraduates  early 
and  careful  consideration  of  the  principles  of  international  arbitration. 

In  compliment  to  your  distinguished  President,  who  is  so  con- 
spicuously associated  with  this  noble  movement,  and  desiring,  even 
though  in  an  humble  way,  to  collaborate  with  Dr.  Oilman  and  his 
associates,  I  shall  address  you  upon  the  subject  of  "International 
Arbitration." 

It  is  a  product  of  the  centuries,  the  resultant  of  all  ideas  and  efforts 

(488) 


179 

for  the  substitution  of  some  other  tribunal  than  that  of  war  for  the 
adjustment  of  international  affairs.  Every  theory  of  the  doctrin- 
aires, however  impracticable  for  the  times,  which  contained  a  germ  of 
truth,  as  well  as  every  real  achievement,  no  matter  how  small  in  com- 
parison with  the  total  of  international  depravity  which  prevailed,  has 
become  a  common  heritage  of  humanity,  an  inspiration  transmitted 
from  age  to  age,  advancing  the  thoughts  and  ideals  of  men  and  pre- 
paring them  for  international  arbitration,  which,  entering  upon  a 
new  era  about  1815,  has  so  progressed  in  our  time  that  no  one  can 
doubt  that  it  is  the  most  powerful  force  now  working  upon  the  nations 
for  the  temporal  happiness  of  mankind. 

International  arbitration,  as  we  know  it,  is  no  more  a  product  of 
the  last  hundred  years  than  was  the  Federal  Constitution  of  1789  a 
product  of  that  vear  It  is  a  flower  of  our  time,  but  the  roots  of  the 
plant  which  matured  it  found  their  beginnings  in  the  soil  of  previous 
centuries. 

The  Amphictyonic  Council,  the  earliest  institution  established  by 
independent  states  clothed  with  the  office  of  preventing  war  between 
themselves,  antedating  authentic  Greek  history  and  enduring  for 
more  than  fifteen  hundred  years;  the  arbitration  of  the  rights  of 
Adrastus  and  Amphiaraus  to  the  Kingdom  of  Argos;  the  adjustment 
of  the  conflicting  claims  of  the  Athenians  and  the  Megarians  to  Sal- 
amis;  the  plan  of  Henry  IV  to  consolidate  Europe  into  a  practical 
federation  of  all  the  powers  to  be  styled  the  "Christian  Republic," 
with  assurances  for  liberty  of  commerce  and  the  establishment  of  a 
general  council  modeled  upon  that  of  the  Amphictyons;  the  epochal 
work  of  Hugo  Grotius,  coming  as  one  of  the  greatest  boons  to  human- 
ity at  a  period  of  its  greatest  agony,  a  fair  flower  of  peace  springing  up 
in  the  midst  of  the  carnage  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War;  the  plan  of  Wil- 
liam Penn,  published  in  1693-94  and  entitled  "An  Essay  Toward  the 
Present  and  Future  Peace  of  Europe  by  the  Establishment  of  an 
European  Dyet  Parliament  or  Estates,"  which  proposed  that  the 
sovereigns  of  Europe  should  meet  by  deputies  in  a  "General  Dyet" 
and  establish  rules  of  justice  between  themselves,  that  a  "Sovereign 
Assembly"  should  adjust  differences  and  coerce  recalcitrant  states, 
that  a  balance  of  power  should  be  maintained  by  the  distribution  of 
votes,  and  that  unwilling  powers  should  be  forced  to  adhesion;  the 
"projet"  of  Abbe  Saint  Pierre  in  the  eighteenth  century,  which  em- 
bodied the  essential  principles  of  the  plans  of  Henry  IV  and  Penn; 
the  scheme  put  forward  by  Bentham,  1780-1889,  for  an  international 
tribunal  to  secure  universal  and  perpetual  peace,  in  which  he  proposed 
a  reduction  of  armaments  and  coercive  powers,  and  as  a  last  resource 
the  enforcement  of  decrees  by  a  contingent  furnished  by  the  several 
states,  but,  exalted  above  all  other  effective  remedies,  publicity,  the  pro- 
mulgation of  the  decision  and  an  appeal  to  the  enlightened  judgment 

(489) 


180 

of  mankind,  which  would  by  its  moral  force,  put  recalcitrant  nations 
under  the  ban  of  public  disapprobation;  the  plan  of  Kant  of  1796  to 
establish  a  "Universal  Union  of  States,"  such  as  would  obliterate 
separate  governmental  independence,  or  a  voluntary  "Permanent 
Congress  of  Nations,"  which  might  determine  their  differences  by  a 
civil  method;  all  of  these  are  a  part  of  the  literature  of  international 
arbitration,  although  some  of  them  were  chimerical  and  others  really 
did  not  embody  any  essential  principle  of  international  arbitration. 
They  were  all  antagonistic  to  continuous  wars  and  advanced  in  a 
greater  or  less  degree  the  cause  of  peace. 

The  thoughts  and  sentiments  thus  implanted  in  the  mind  of 
humanity,  though,  like  all  great  things,  slow  of  development,  at  last 
stirred  the  public  conscience  and  subdued,  having  as  a  powerful 
auxiliary  the  economic  conditions  involved  in  the  direct  and  indirect 
costs  of  modern  warfare,  the  fierce  tendencies  of  nations.  But  little 
practical  progress  was  made  during  the  period  of  blood  and  carnage 
that  prevailed  until  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

The  formation  of  our  federal  Constitution,  creating  for  the  first 
time  a  court  with  full  and  final  power  to  settle  all  controversies  be- 
tween sovereign  states,  was  the  greatest  step  ever  taken  toward 
substituting  judicial  procedure  for  appeal  to  arms. 

About  a  year  ago  the  supreme  court  gave  judgment  in  a  large  sum 
in  favor  of  South  Dakota  against  North  Carolina,  which  was  promptly 
paid,  althought  it  was  earnestly  contended  that  the  court  had  no 
jurisdiction  over  the  controversy. 

The  Jay  treaty  of  1794  contained  provisions  for  adjusting  by 
arbitration  three  questions  which  threatened  to  involve  us  in  war 
with  Great  Britain,  and  under  it  three  separate  boards  of  arbitration 
were  created.  Our  treaty  of  1795  with  Spain  likewise  contained  a 
provision  for  arbitration.  B}^  the  Treaty  of  Ghent  in  1814  three 
boards  of  arbitration  were  created. 

After  the  overthrow  of  Napoleon  a  general  reaction  began  in  all 
civilized  countries  against  barbarous  methods  of  settling  disputes. 
Peace  ideas  were  fostered  and  promoted  in  every  way.  Peace  socie- 
ties and  peace  congresses  constantly  stirred  the  conscience  of  the  world. 

The  Treaty  of  1848,  which  concluded  peace  between  the  United 
States  and  Mexico,  provided  that  the  two  nations  would  in  the  future 
adjust  their  disagreements  by  pacific  negotiations  and  by  arbitration. 

In  1851  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations  reported  to  the  United 
States  Senate  a  resolution  declaring  that  it  was  desirable  to  secure  in 
treaties  a  provision  for  arbitration.  Similar  resolutions  were  intro- 
duced in  Congress  in  1854,  1872,  1874,  and  1888. 

The  treaty  which  most  profoundly  influenced  the  ideas  of  the 
world  on  the  subject  of  arbitration  was  that  of  Washington  of  1871, 
which  provided  four  arbitrations. 

(490) 


181 

John  Morley  says: 

"The  Treaty  of  Washington  and  the  Geneva  arbitration  stand  out 
as  the  most  noticeable  victory  in  the  nineteenth  century  of  the  noble 
art  of  preventive  diplomacy  and  the  most  signal  exhibition  in  their 
history  of  self-command  in  two  of  the  three  chief  democratic  powers 
of  the  Western  World.  " 

The  arbitration  held  in  Paris  in  1893,  in  the  Fur  Seal  case,  and  the 
arbitral  tribunal,  w^hich  decided  the  Alaskan  boundary  dispute,  were 
next  in  importance.  There  have  been  upward  of  two  hundred  in- 
stances since  1815  where  international  diflferences  have  been  settled 
by  reference  to  arbitration  and  quasi-arbitration,  and  the  United 
States  has  been  a  party  to  more  than  sixty  of  these. 

A  variety  of  questions,  such  as  those  involving  disputed  boundar- 
ies, injuries  to  public  and  private  property  and  persons,  disputed 
sovereignty  over  islands,  seizure  of  ships,  and  interference  with 
fisheries  and  commerce,  have  been  peaceably  and  economically  ad- 
justed, which  in  former  times  would  probably  have  led  to  war.  Al- 
though it  has  been  often  said  that  questions  of  national  honor  cannot 
be  submitted  to  arbitration,  experience  has  shown  that  the  term 
"national  honor"  is  variable  and  in  some  degree  shadowy,  and  that 
many  questions  which,  under  a  former  code,  would  have  been  cata- 
logued under  "national  honor"  have  been  submitted  and  settled  in 
this  wav,  even  though  at  the  outset,  as  was  said  by  Lord  Russell  in 
regard  to  the  Alabama  claims,  such  a  submission  Avas  thought  to  be 
incompatible  with  national  dignity. 

The  Hague  conference  stands  as  the  most  notable  event  in  the 
history  of  the  world  bearing  upon  international  peace.  The  nations 
participating  w^ere  Germany,  United  States  of  America,  Austria- 
Hungary,  Belgium,  China,  Denmark,  Spain,  France,  Great  Britain 
and  Ireland,  Greece,  Italy,  Japan,  Luxemburg,  Mexico,  Montenegro, 
Netherlands,  Persia,  Portugal,  Roumania,  Russia,  Servia,  Siam, 
Sweden  and  Norway,  Switzerland,  Turkey  and  Bulgaria,  twenty-six 
in  all,  represented  bv  one  hundred  members.  Of  the  independent 
governments  of  the  world,  the  Central  and  South  American  Republics, 
the  Stdtanates  of  Morocco  and  Muscat,  the  Orange  Free  State,  the 
Principality  of  Monaco,  the  Republic  of  San  Marino,  and  the  Kingdom 
of  Abyssinia  were  the  only  ones  not  represented. 

The  conference  held  ten  sessions,  the  last  being  on  July  29.  They 
agreed  for  submission  for  signature  by  the  plenipotentiaries  up  to 
December  31,  1899,  on  three  conventions  and  three  declarations  to 
form  so  many  separate  acts.  The  signatory  powers  agreed  to  use 
their  best  efforts  to  insure  the  pacific  settlement  of  interna- 
tional differences ;  in  cases  of  disagreement  or  conflict  before  an 
appeal  to  arms,  to  have,  as  far  as  circumstances  allow,  recourse  to 
the  good  ofHces  or  mediation  of  one  or  more  friendly  powers ;  to  sanc- 

(491) 


182 

tion,  even  during  hostilities,  the  intervention  of  powers,  strangers  to 
the  dispute,  by  offering  their  good  offices  as  mediators  in  reconcihng 
opposing  claims  and  in  appeasing  feelings  of  resentment.  They 
recommended,  when  circumstances  will  allow,  a  resort  by  the  parties 
at  variance  to  special  mediation  of  powers  selected  by  them,  and  during 
the  period  allowed  for  the  execution  of  such  mandate  the  states  in 
conflict  shall  cease  from  all  direct  communications.  In  differences 
involving  neither  honor  nor  vital  interests,  and  only  matters  of  fact, 
they  recommended  that  the  parties  interested  institute  an  inter- 
national commission  of  inquiry,  whose  report  shall  be  limited  to  a 
statement  of  the  facts,  and  shall  be  only  advisory. 

Title  IV  deals  with  international  arbitration.  It  defines  as  its 
object  "the  determination  of  controversies  between  states  by  judges 
of  their  own  choice  upon  the  basis  of  respect  for  law,"  and  declares 
that  the  signatory  powers  recognize  arbitration  as  the  most  effica- 
cious and  most  equitable  method  of  deciding  questions  regarding  the 
interpretation  or  application  of  international  treaties.  Then  follows 
the  solemn  declaration  that  "the  agreement  of  arbitration  implies 
the  obligation  to  submit  in  good  faith  to  the  decision  of  the  arbitral 
tribunal. '" 

They  undertook  to  organize  a  permanent  court  of  arbitration, 
accessible  at  all  times,  which  shall  have  jurisdiction  of  all  cases  of 
arbitration  unless  the  parties  shall  establish  a  special  tribunal. 

An  international  bureau  at  the  Hague  is  provided  for,  which  shall 
be  the  record  office  for  the  court.  Each  signatory  power  shall  select 
not  more  than  four  persons  of  recognized  competence  in  questions  of 
international  law,  enjoying  the  highest  moral  reputation,  who  shall 
constitute  the  court,  the  term  of  each  appointee  to  be  for  six  vears, 
with  capacity  for  renewal. 

Signatory  powers  resorting  to  the  court  must  select  arbitrators 
from  the  list  of  members,  each  party,  in  the  absence  of  special  agree- 
ment, to  select  two,  and  these  together,  an  umpire;  but  if  they  divide 
equally,  then  the  choice  of  umpire  shall  be  made  by  a  third  power 
selected  by  the  parties.  To  give  dignity  to  the  court,  its  members, 
while  in  the  discharge  of  their  duties  and  outside  of  their  own  country, 
shall  enjoy  diplomatic  priviliges  and  immunities. 

The  court  shall  sit  at  the  Hague,  unless  in  cases  of  necessitv  the 
parties  shall  agree  on  a  different  place.  Non-signatory  powers 
may  submit  to  the  jurisdiction.  It  is  declared  by  Article  XXVII 
that  the  signatory  powers  consider  it  their  duty  to  remind  each  other 
that  the  court  is  open  to  them,  and  that  such  act  can  onlv  be  considered 
as  an  exercise  of  good  offices. 

In  acceding  to  this  article,  the  representatives  of  the  United  States 
presented  a  declaration  which  was  received  without  objection  bv  the 
conference,  that  nothing  contained  in  the  convention  should  make  it 

(492) 


183 

the  duty  of  the  United  States  to  intrude  in  or  become  entangled  with 
European  poHtical  questions  or  matters  of  internal  administration,  or 
to  relinquish  the  traditional  attitude  of  our  nation  toward  purely 
American  questior,s.  It  was  regarded  by  our  representatives  that 
such  a  caveat  was  necessary  to  negative  an  implied  abandonment  of 
the  Monroe  Doctrine.  The  occasion  was  utilized  for  officially  announc- 
ing the  Monroe  Doctrine  to  the  assembled  representatives  of  all  the 
great  powers  and  obtaining  their  implied  assent  to  it. 

The  award  shall  be  bv  a  majority  of  votes  in  writing,  signed  by 
each  raember,  and  setting  forth  the  reasons  for  the  decision.  The 
minority  may,  in  signing,  state  their  dissent.  There  shall  be  no 
appeal ;  but  in  the  submission  a  right  to  demand  a  rehearing  may  be 
reserved,  based  only  on  the  discovery  of  new  facts.  It  was  early  made 
manifest  that  not  one  of  the  nations  represented  was  willing  to  agree 
to  compulsory  arbitration. 

Sixteen  powers  signed  this  treat v  on  July  29th  It  was  ratified 
unanimously  by  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  on  February  5,  1900. 
All  of  the  powers  represented  at  the  conference  have  signed  it.  They 
govern  nine-tenths  of  the  world,  and  their  populations  embrace 
fourteen  hundred  millions  of  the  total  sixteen  hundred  millions  of 
the  earth's  inhabitants. 

Although  not  invited  to  become  parties  to  the  Hague  convention, 
the  South  American  Republics,  animated  by  a  spirit  that  rose  above 
all  littleness,  and  which  commanded  the  admiration  of  the  world,  by  a 
resolution  passed  at  the  Mexican  International  American  Conference 
in  1902,  recognized  the  principles  set  forth  in  the  three  Hague  con- 
ventions as  international  law,  and  conferred  upon  the  United  States 
and  Mexico  the  authority  to  negotiate  with  the  other  signatory 
powers  for  their  becoming  parties  to  these  treaties.  President  Mc- 
Kinley  appointed  Ex-presidents  Harrison  and  Cleveland  as  two  of  the 
American  members  of  the  court,  the  former  accepting  and  the  latter 
declining. 

There  had  been  other  peace  congresses,  such  as  the  conferences  of 
Miinster  and  Osnabriick  in  1648,  those  of  Utrecht  in  1713,  of  Paris  in 
1763,  the  Congress  of  Vienna  in  1815,  and  that  of  Berlin  in  1878;  but 
as  Mr.  Holls,  one  of  the  members  of  the  Hague  conference  from  the 
United  States  remarked: 

"The  vital  distinction  between  these  gatherings  and  the  peace 
conference  at  the  Hague  is  that  all  of  the  former  were  held  at  the  end 
of  a  period  of  warfare,  and  their  first  important  object  was  to  restore 
peace  between  actual  belligerents;  whereas  the  peace  conference  was 
the  first  diplomatic  gathering  called  to  discuss  guarantees  of  peace 
without  reference  to  any  particular  war — past,  present,  or  prospec- 
tive . ' ' 

"Before  this  court  was  established  nations  drifted  into  war.     A 

(49.3) 


184 

difiference  arose ;  a  vista  revealing  an  opportunity  for  party  advantage 
opened  up  to  the  demagogue,  who  is  nothing  if  not  loudly  and  ag- 
gressively patriotic;  issues  where  obscured  or  falsified;  some  of  the 
public  prints  misled  and  fired  popular  sentiment;  all  rational  inter- 
course between  the  contending  nations  was  made  impossible ;  other 
powers  failed  to  intervene;  there  was  no  tribunal  whose  offices  had 
been  previously  sanctioned  to  appeal  to;  and  war  was  the  inevitable 
consequence. " 

No  event  that  has  transpired  in  history  has  even  approximated 
the  profound  and  lasting  effects  of  this  conference  upon  the  peace  of 
the  world.  International  law  had  been  evolved  by  jurists,  and  its 
principles  had  from  time  to  time  been  sanctioned  by  occasional 
recognition  of  nations.  It  was  merely  a  collection  of  moral  teachings 
upon  relations  between  governments.  By  this  treaty  practically  all 
of  the  powers  of  the  world  gave  formal  assent  to  some  of  the  most 
important  principles  of  international  law,  and  established  a  perma- 
nent court  composed  of  competent  jurists  from  all  nations,  open  at  all 
times  for  its  continuous  development  and  sanction,  a  court  to  which 
it  is  made  the  duty  of  all  signatory  powers  to  admonish  other  signa- 
tory powers  which  have  differences  to  resort;  it  being  expressly  pro- 
vided that  such  reminder  shall  be  regarded  as  an  exercise  of  good 
offices. 

As  Americans,  whose  government  has  always  been  in  the  advance 
guard  contending  for  humanitarian  principles,  we  take  a  laudable 
pride  in  the  fact  that  the  United  States  proposed  to  our  sister  republic 
of  Mexico  to  submit  to  the  Hague  tribunal  the  Pious  Fund  contro- 
versy, the  first  case  brought  under  its  authority. 

The  reference  of  the  Venezuelan  case  to  the  Hague  was  an  event 
of  vast  import.  The  interested  powers  suggested  that  the  President 
should  decide  the  controversy.  He  wisely  declined  this,  and  recom- 
mended that  the  offices  of  the  Hague  tribunal  be  invoked.  His  reas- 
ons are  admirably  stated  in  his  message  to  Congress,  December  7, 1903  : 

"It  seemed  to  me  to  offer  an  admirable  opportunity  to  advance 
the  practice  of  the  peaceful  settlement  of  disputes  between  nations 
and  to  secure  for  the  Hague  tribunal  a  memorable  increase  of  its 
practical  importance.  The  nations  interested  in  the  controversy 
were  so  numerous,  and  in  many  instances  so  powerful,  as  to  make  it 
evident  that  beneficent  results  would  follow  from  their  appearance 
at  the  same  time  before  the  bar  of  that  august  tribunal  of  peace. 

"Our  hopes  in  that  regard  have  been  realized.  Russia  and  Austria 
are  represented  in  the  persons  of  the  learned  and  distinguished  jurists 
who  compose  the  tribunal;  while  Great  Britain,  Germany,  France, 
Spain,  Italy,  Belgium,  the  Netherlands,  Sweden  and  Norway,  Mexico, 
the  United  States,  and  Venezuela  are  represented  by  their  respec- 
tive agents  and  counsel. 

(4941 


185 

"Such  an  imposing  concourse  of  nations  presenting  their  argu- 
ments to  and  invoking  the  decision  of  that  high  court  of  international 
justice  and  international  peace  can  hardly  fail  to  secure  a  like  sub- 
mission of  many  future  controversies.  The  nations  now  appearing 
there  will  find  it  far  easier  to  appear  there  a  second  time,  while  no 
nation  can  imagine  its  just  pride  will  be  lessened  by  following  the 
example  now  presented.  This  triumph  of  the  principle  of  internation- 
al arbitration  is  a  subject  of  warm  congratulation,  and  offers  a  happy 
augury  for  the  peace  of  the  world. " 

The  settlement  of  the  North  Sea  incident,  the  way  to  which  was 
opened  up  directly  by  the  Hague  convention,  greatly  increased  the 
confidence  in  its  beneficence  and  gave  assurance  of  its  efficacy  in 
maintaining  the  peace  of  the  world. 

When  it  became  known  that  the  Baltic  fleet  had  fired  at  Dogger 
Bank  upon  English  fishermen,  the  most  intense  excitement  prevailed 
all  over  the  world  and  war  between  Russia  and  Great  Britain  seemed 
imminent.  Great  Britain  made  known  to  Russia  that  apology,  dis- 
claimer, reparation  to  sufferers,  a  searching  inquiry  followed  by  pun- 
ishment of  responsible  parties,  and  security  against  repetition  of  such 
incidents  would  be  expected,  and  when  there  was  delay  in  adequately 
responding  to  these  views  it  was  further  communicated  that  if  the 
Russian  fleet  continued  its  course  without  calling  at  Vigo  in  Spain, 
there  might  be  war  before  the  week  was  over  The  fleet  stopped  at 
Vigo  and  Admiral  Rojestvensky  gave  his  version  of  the  affair.  Not- 
withstanding his  statement  Great  Britain  pressed  her  demand  coupled 
with  a  proposition  for  a  court  of  inquiry  analogous  to  that  provided 
for  by  the  Hague  convention.  Russia  made  a  similar  proposal  under 
the  Hague  convention. 

Thus  was  brought  about  through  the  direct  inspiration  of  the 
Hague  convention,  the  international  commission,  composed  of  British, 
French,  Russian,  Austrian  and  United  States  admirals,  which  by  its 
finding  of  February  25,  1905,  averted  a  war  between  two  powerful 
nations. 

Since  the  Hague  convention,  over  thirty  treaties  providing  for 
obligatory  arbitration  have  been  signed  and  the  one  between  Den- 
mark and  the  Netherlands  makes  no  reservation  whatsoever. 

During  the  last  year  the  Hague  court  has  denied  the  contention 
of  Japan  that  she  had  a  right  under  her  treaties  of  commerce  with 
western  powers,  to  tax  improvements  on  land  held  by  foreigners 
under  perpetual  lease. 

The  question  of  the  French  protectorate  over  the  Sultan  of  Muscat, 
has,  under  the  treaty  between  France  and  Great  Britain,  been  referred 
to  that  tribunal. 

The  outlook  was  never  brighter  for  widening  the  usefulness  of  the 
Hague  tribunal  and  we  may  confidently  expect  through  its  instru- 

(495) 


.186 

mentality,  a  systematic  and  harmonious  development  of  interna- 
tional law. 

Under  the  corrective  influence  of  international  jurists,  unsound 
doctrine  will  be  repudiated.  This  is  more  easy  of  accomplishment  by 
the  Hague  court  than  by  any  other.  The  same  members  are  rarely 
chosen  to  sit.  There  will  be  a  constant  change  in  judges.  As  new 
cases  arise,  not  having  any  pride  of  opinion  in  the  decisions  of  others, 
they  will  the  more  promptly  expound  as  the  law  that  which  the 
enlightemnent  of  the  time  shall  demand,  for  international  law  will 
always  develop  and  stand  as  the  exponent  of  such  international  justice 
and  morality  as  the  consensus  of  nations  shall  approve. 

The  rejection  by  the  Senate  in  1897  of  the  treaty  between  the 
United  States  and  Great  Britain  known  as  the  Olney-Pauncefote 
treaty,  profoundly  stirred  the  country,  and  it  was  felt  that  the  United 
States,  for  so  long  a  time  the  recognized  leader  in  the  modern  develop- 
ment of  peace  movements,  had  taken  a  backward  step.  Again  there 
was  deep  disappointment  and  wide  and  outspoken  dissatisfaction 
when  the  Senate  at  the  last  Congress  amended  the  treaties  negotiated 
between  this  country  and  France,  Great  Britain,  Germany,  Italy, 
Portugal,  Switzerland,  Spain,  Austria-Hungary,  Sweden  and  Norway 
and  Mexico.  They  were  all  alike  and  substantially  like  those  con- 
cluded between  Great  Britain  and  France  and  other  countries.  A 
like  treaty  was  concluded  with  Japan  on  the  day  the  Senate  acted  on 
the  other  treaties  and  on  account  of  such  action,  was  not  submitted 
to  the  Senate.  The  Senate  has  been  memorialized  by  a  large  meeting 
of  representative  citizens  which  met  in  Washington  in  January,  1904, 
to  ratify  these  treaties.  They  were  approved  by  the  National  Board  of 
Trade,  the  Commercial  Club  of  Chicago,  the  New  York  State  Bar 
Association  and  by  commercial  bodies  all  over  the  country. 

Article  I  of  the  Anglo-French  treaty  provided  as  follows: 

"Differences  which  may  arise  of  a  legal  nature,  or  relating  to  the 
interpretation  of  treaties  existing  between  the  two  contracting  parties, 
and  which  it  mav  not  have  been  possible  to  settle  bv  diplomacy,  shall 
be  referred  to  the  permanent  court  of  arbitration  established  at  the 
Hague  by  the  convention  of  the  29th  of  July,  1899,  provided,  never- 
theless, that  they  do  not  affect  the  vital  interests,  the  independence, 
or  the  honor  of  the  two  contracting  states,  and  do  not  concern  the 
interests  of  third  parties.  " 

This  was  a  general  obligation  assumed  by  the  contracting  parties 
to  submit  all  questions  outside  of  the  excepted  classes  to  arbitration. 

Article  II  provided  that:  "In  each  individual  case  the  high  con- 
tracting parties,  before  appealing  to  the  permanent  court  of  arbitra- 
tion, shall  conclude  a  special  agreement." 

The  Senate  by  a  vote  of  fifty  to  nine,  amended  Article  II  by 
substituting  the  word  "treaty"  for  "agreement."     In  doing  this  it 

(496) 


187 

acted  clearly  within  its  rights.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  Senate 
could  provide,  if  it  had  been  willing  to  do  so,  for  special  cases  as  they 
might  arise  under  a  general  treaty.  Such  action  would  satisfy  both 
the  letter  and  the  spirit  of  the  Constitution. 

It  has  been  published  from  sources  represented  as  authentic 
notwithstanding  the  veil  of  secrecy  enshrouding  the  proceedings  of 
the  Senate,  that  a  reason  for  the  amendment  was  that  it  was  under- 
stood bv  senators  that  the  President  would  regard  the  word  "agree- 
ment " '  as  conferring  upon  him  full  power  to  enter  upon  arbitration 
with  a  foreign  power  on  any  question  embraced  in  the  treaty,  without 
submitting  the  case  to  the  Senate,  and  that  the  term,  "of  a  legal 
nature,"  would  embrace  all  such  claims  as  the  Alabama  question,  the 
indemnitv  claimed  by  Columbia  and  our  action  as  to  the  Panama 
Canal,  and  that  under  "interpretation  of  treaties,"  the  President 
might  submit  to  arbitration  our  commercial  rights  in  China,  the 
threatened  trade  retaliation  of  Germany  and  many  other  questions  of 
the  utmost  importance  to  which  the  Senate  should  give  special  con- 
sideration. 

The  President  forthwith  upon  the  action  of  the  Senate,  aban- 
doned the  treaties.  This  was  regarded  by  some  of  the  ablest  and 
most  earnest  friends  of  international  arbitration,  notably  Hon.  John 
W.  Foster,  as  unwise,  and  that  the  action  of  the  President  as  well  as 
that  of  the  Senate  was  unfortunate. 

It  leaves  America  alone  of  the  signatory  powers  to  the  Hague 
convention,  in  not  having  entered  into  a  treaty  providing  for  sub- 
mission of  cases  as  they  arise  to  that  tribunal.  Notwithstanding  the 
effect  of  the  amendment  of  the  second  article,  it  was  regarded  by  many 
that  the  moral  obligation  assumed  under  the  first  article  was  a  glorious 
step  in  the  cause  of  international  arbitration. 

However  friends  of  arbitration  may  differ  as  to  the  effect  of  the 
action  of  the  Senate  and  that  of  the  President,  it  is  certain  that 
nothing  done  in  respect  of  these  treaties  will  seriously  retard  the 
cause.  Public  attention  has  been  challenged  as  never  before,  discus- 
sion has  been  more  general  and  profound,  zeal  has  been  stimulated  to 
a  higher  degree  than  ever,  and  when  action  follows,  it  will  go  distinctly 
in  advance  of  the  highly  conservative  boundaries  maintained  in  those 
treaties. 

In  1888,  upon  the  initiative  of  Randal  Cremer,  a  member  of  the 
British  Parliament,  was  established  the  Interparliamentary  Union. 
It  is  made  up  of  men  of  every  class  and  condition,  the  only  indispens- 
able requirement  for  admission  being  that  they  shall  be  members  of 
some  national  parliament. 

Secretary^  Hay  has  stated  that  in  the  conference  held  by  the  union 
in  Holland  in  1894,  the  declaration  made  by  it  in  favor  of  a  per- 
manent court  of  arbitration  was  a  forerunner  of  the  most  important 

(497) 


achievement  of  the  peace  conference  of  the  Hague  in  1899.  Its 
membership,  now  exceeding  two  thousand,  and  the  prestige  it  has 
gained  by  its  wide  activity,  command  the  greatest  consideration,  as 
is  shown  by  the  fact  that  it  was  invited  by  Congress  to  hold  its  1904 
meeting  at  the  St.  Louis  Exposition,  and  fifty  thousand  dollars  were 
voted  for  the  entertainment  of  the  delegates.  At  that  meeting,  by 
unanimous  vote,  a  resolution  was  adopted  as  follows: 

"Whereas,  enlightened  public  opinion  and  modern  civilization 
alike  demand  that  differences  between  nations  should  be  adjudicated 
and  settled  in  the  same  manner  as  disputes  between  individuals  are 
adjudicated,  namely  by  the  arbitrament  of  courts  in  accordance  with 
recognized  principles  of  law,  this  conference  requests  the  several 
governments  of  the  world  to  send  delegates  to  an  international  con- 
ference to  be  held  at  a  time  and  place  to  be  agreed  upon  by  them  for 
the  purpose  of  considering: 

1 .  The  questions  for  the  consideration  of  which  the  conference  at 
the  Hague  expressed  a  wish  that  a  future  conference  be  called. 

2.  The  negotiation  of  arbitration  treaties  between  the  nations 
represented  at  the  conference  to  be  convened. 

3.  The  advisability  of  establishing  an  international  congress  to 
convene  periodically  for  the  discussion  of  international  questions. 

And  this  conference  respectfully  and  cordially  requests  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States  to  invite  all  the  nations  to  send  representa- 
tives to  such  conference." 

On  the  24th  of  September,  1904,  this  resolution  was  presented  to 
the  President  by  a  large  representation  of  the  delegates  to  the  union. 
The  President  at  once  announced  that  he  would,  at  an  early  date, 
invite  the  other  nations  parties  to  the  Hague  convention,  to  reassemble 
with  a  view  of  still  further  advancing  the  work  already  so  happily 
begun. 

In  pursuance  of  this  action,  on  October  21,  1904,  Secretary  Hay 
addressed  a  letter  to  the  representatives  of  the  United  States  ac- 
credited to  the  governments  signatories  to  the  acts  of  the  Hague 
conference,  directing  them  to  bring  the  matter  to  the  attention  of  the 
ministers  of  foreign  affairs  of  the  governments  to  which  they  were 
severally  accredited,  to  ascertain  to  what  extent  that  government 
would  be  disposed  to  act  in  the  matter.     He  concluded  as  follows: 

"You  will  state  the  President's  desire  and  hope  that  the  undying 
memories  which  cling  around  the  Hague  as  the  cradle  of  the  benefi- 
cent work  which  had  its  beginning  in  1899  may  be  strengthened  by 
holding  the  second  peace  conference  in  that  historic  city." 

The  replies  received  to  this  communication  indicated  that  the 
proposition  had  been  received  with  general  favor.  No  dissent  was 
made  known.  The  governments  of  Austria-Hungary,  Denmark, 
France,    Germany,    Great    Britain,    Italy,    Luxemburg,    Mexico,    the 

(498) 


189 

Netherlands,  Portugal,  Roumania,  Spain,  Sweden  and  Norway,  and 
Switzerland  exhibited  sympathy  with  the  purpose  of  the  proposal, 
and  generally  accepted  it  in  principle.  Japan  and  Russia  replied  with 
friendly  recognition  of  the  spirit  and  object  of  the  invitation,  but  on 
account  of  the  existing  war,  it  did  not  seem  to  Russia  to  be  practicable 
at  that  moment,  to  take  part  in  such  a  conference.  Japan  made  the 
reservation  only  that  no  action  should  be  taken  by  the  conference 
relative  to  the  then  existing  war. 

In  a  subsequent  communication,  it  was  further  suggested  to  all 
the  powers  that  the  further  and  necessary  interchange  of  views  be- 
tween the  signatories  of  the  Act  of  1899,  be  effected  through  an  inter- 
national bureau  under  the  control  of  the  permanent  administrative 
council  of  the  Hague.  Now  that  the  great  war  which  held  the  pro- 
posed conference  in  abeyance  has  been  terminated,  it  has  been  an- 
nounced (on  the  fourteenth  of  this  month)  that  the  Czar  has  again 
taken  the  initiative  and  has  invited  another  conference  of  the  Hague. 
We  mav  confidently  look  forward  to  a  second  conference  which  will, 
with  advanced  views,  take  up  not  only  the  questions  which  were 
reserved  at  the  former  conference  such  as  the  rights  and  duties  as 
neutrals,  the  inviolability  of  private  property  in  naval  warfare  and 
the  bombardment  of  ports,  towns  and  villages  by  naval  force,  but  the 
proposals  for  further  increasing  the  power  of  the  court  and  the  obli- 
gation to  submit  controversies  to  it  along  lines  which  would  not  have 
been  seriously  contemplated  by  any  of  the  greater  powers  in  1899. 

That  Japan  and  Russia,  two  of  the  signatory  powers,  plunged  into 
war  without  resorting  to  the  Hague  tribunal,  gives  no  ground  for 
serious  concern  as  to  the  future  of  arbitration.  No  one  but  a  dreamer 
ever  expected  all  war  to  be  abolished.  The  world  was  not  expected 
to  be  petrified  into  states  in  their  present  form  without  the  possibility 
of  a  change  of  territory.  It  is  manifest  that  there  was  no  place  for 
arbitration  between  Russia  and  Japan.  The  advancement  of  Russia, 
and  its  acquisition  of  new  territory  in  a  country  foreign  to  Japan  pre- 
sented no  question  of  title  as  between  these  two  nations.  The  belief 
of  Japan,  that  such  encroachment  jeopardized  its  future  prosperity 
and  the  very  life  of  the  nation,  presented  no  question  which  could  be 
solved  by  any  principles  of  international  law. 

It  was  a  case  where  a  policy  of  expansion,  deemed  to  be  essential 
for  national  prosperity,  was  regarded  by  another  power,  though  not 
the  owner  of  the  territory  in  question,  as  vitally  inimical  to  its  welfare. 
Such  a  question  could  only  be  settled  by  a  voluntary  abandonment  of 
its  position  by  one  of  the  powers,  or  by  war.  No  principle  of  inter- 
national law  applicable  to  the  settlement  of  such  a  conflict  has  yet 
been  accepted. 

Although  this  great  war  cast  a  pall  over  the  peace  movement,  and 
filled  some  of  its  advocates  with  despair,  it  also  furnished  the  occasion 

(499) 


190 

for  one  of  the  most  dramatic  incidents  in  history,  one  that  will  for  all 
time  stand  as  a  precedent.  President  Roosevelt,  he  of  the  strenuous 
life,  usually  portrayed  in  his  milder  moods  with  a  big  stick,  supposed 
by  many  to  be  so  rash  that  his  very  existence  imperilled  the  peace  of 
the  world,  casting  aside  the  old  world  restraints  that  imposed  silence 
upon  a  nation  so  long  as  sister  nations  were  engaged  in  cutting  each 
other's  throats,  became  the  great  apostle  of  peace,  and  acting  within 
the  spirit  if  not  the  letter  of  the  Hague  convention,  opened  up  for 
pacification  the  way  which  Japan  and  Russia  could  not  find  for  them- 
selves. He  not  only  won  recognition  as  the  foremost  man  of  the  world, 
but  reestablished  the  prestige  of  the  United  States  for  peace,  which 
had  been  seriously  impaired  by  the  rejection  of  the  arbitration  treaties. 
If  his  overture  had  been  repelled,  or  if  after  negotiations  had  been 
entered  upon,  there  had  been  no  settlement,  his  intervention  would 
have  taken  its  place  with  other  laudable  but  unfruitful  efforts  which 
are  chronicled  but  do  not  change  the  current  of  history. 

As  surely  as  the  stars  fought  against  Sisera,  so  surely  have  they 
fought  on  the  side  of  Roosevelt.  His  intervention  was  not  only 
welcomed,  but  it  was  crowned  with  the  most  brilliant  success.  If  he 
had  left  it  to  the  stars  alone,  or  the  stars  in  conjunction  with  the 
Russian  and  Japanese,  it  would  have  been  a  fiasco.  The  history  of 
that  negotiation  may  not  be  fully  disclosed  in  our  time,  but  we  know 
enough  to  feel  assured  that  he  pursued  the  work  that  he  initiated  with 
the  tireless  zeal  and  inexhaustible  resources  that  characterize  all  of 
his  undertakings,  and  that  his  supremest  efforts  were  made  at  the 
darkest  moment.  A  new  phase  in  international  relations  has  been 
developed,  one  that  will  be  a  powerful  conservator  of  the  peace  of  the 
world. 

The  University  of  Illinois,  consecrated  to  the  work  of  uplifting 
humanity,  will,  I  trust,  under  its  new  leadership,  by  the  action  of 
both  Faculty  and  students,  give  not  merely  the  prestige  of  its  great 
name,  but  its  earnest  cooperation  in  carrying  international  arbitra- 
tion to  yet  higher  and  broader  planes  of  effective  operation. 


(500) 


191 


ASSEMBLY  OF  THE  COLLEGE  OF  LITERATURE  AND  ARTS, 

THE  SCHOOL  OF  MUSIC  AND  THE  SCHOOL 

OF  LIBRARY  SCIENCE. 


The  Chapel,  11:00  a.m. 


SOME  RESULTS  OF  THE  ELECTIVE  SYSTEM 

A.  Lawrence  Lowell,  A.B.,  LL.B. 
Professor  in  Harvard  University 

Speaking  of  democracy,  Edmond  Scherer  remarks  that  after  all  it 
is  only  a  stage  in  an  inevitable  march  towards  an  unknown  goal,  and 
merits  neither  the  praise  it  calls  forth,  nor  the  dread  it  inspires.  This 
is  no  doubt  in  some  measure  true  of  every  movement.  It  neither 
plunges  man  into  chaos  nor  leads  him  to  paradise.  It  does  not  essen- 
tially change  his  moral  nature  and  fortunately  it  does  not  lessen  the 
need  of  moral  effort.  Improveraents  in  agriculture  may  increase  the 
crops,  but  they  do  not  render  plowing,  sowing  and  reaping  unnecessary. 

Twenty  years  ago  the  college  curriculum  was  earnestly  discussed. 
In  the  larger  colleges  the  old  fixed  courses  of  studies  required  alike 
for  everyone  was  visibly  breaking  down;  giving  way  not  so  much 
before  the  criticism  of  those  who  had  lost  faith  in  its  usefulness,  as 
before  the  assaults  of  newer  subjects  of  learning  which  were,  so  to 
speak,  clamoring  for  recognition  in  a  program  that  could  not  make 
room  for  them.  The  time  had  come  when  no  man  could  possibly  learn 
all  the  things  that  educated  men  like  to  know.  As  Professor  William 
James  has  observed,  the  aggregate  ignorance  even  of  the  members  of 
a  faculty  is  encyclopedic.  In  fact,  the  defence  of  a  fixed  curriculum 
on  the  ground  that  it  furnished  a  complete  education  had  become  an 
anachronism. 

Some  variation  of  studies  is  now  permitted  in  almost  all  our  larger 
colleges,  and  yet  after  a  generation  of  experiments  we  have  not  reached 
a  common  opinion  about  the  best  form  of  curriculum.  At  first  sight 
the  policies  of  different  institutions  seem  to  be  based  upon  radically 
divergent  principles,  and  certainly  their  catalogues  present  almost 
every  conceivable  variety  of  system.  Now  such  a  condition  after 
long  experience  might  indicate  that  we  were  all  on  the  wrong  track, 
for  error  is  more  multifarious  than  truth.  This  supposition,'  however, 
need  not  be  discussed.  On  the  other  hand,  the  condition  may  indi- 
cate that  our  paths  are  not  so  far  apart  as  they  appear:  and  this  is,  I 
believe,  very  largely  the  case.  In  the  first  place  it  seems  to  be  uni- 
versally conceded  that  so  far  as  variations  in  the  choice  of  studies  are 
allowed  at  all,  the  choice  between  possible  alternatives  shall  be  made 
by   the    student    himself.     Then    the    chief    differences    between    the 

(501) 


192 

systems  in  use  are  rather  in  degree  than  in  kind.  They  turn  upon  the 
question  what  subjects  shall  still  be  required,  for  something  is  still 
required  almost  everywhere :  and  they  turn  also  upon  the  question  how 
far  the  student  shall  be  restricted  in  his  choice.  In  all  "colleges  he  is 
restricted  to  some  extent.  Nowhere  is  he  allowed  to  make  a  new 
choice  every  month;  his  selection  in  the  freshman  year  is  usually 
limited  to  a  small  number  of  courses;  and  he  is  constantly  under  the 
necessity  of  taking  some  elective  that  he  may  not  care  for,  if  he  wants 
to  take  another  elective  of  a  more  advanced  character  in  the  same 
field.  At  the  present  moment,  for  example,  a  student  at  Harvard 
must,  as  a  rule,  take  a  preliminary  course  in  mediaeval  history,  or  in 
modern  government,  before  he  can  elect  American  constitutional 
history.  Restrictions  of  this  kind  arise  from  the  nature  of  things. 
Those  of  a  more  general  character  deliberately  imposed  by  college 
regulations  are  usually  intended  to  secure,  on  the  one  hand,  a  certain 
concentration  of  work,  and  to  prevent,  on  the  other,  excessive  special- 
izing. Such  regulations  differ  a  good  deal  in  the  amount  of  restriction 
imposed.  In  this  University,  for  example,  where  the  latitude  allowed 
is  rather  large,  a  candidate  for  the  degree  of  bachelor  of  arts  must  take 
for  his  principal  subject  electives  in  some  one  department  amounting 
to  not  less  than  three,  nor  more  than  five-sixteenths  of  his  total  work; 
and  he  must  take  one-sixteenth  of  his  work  in  each  of  five  groups  of 
studies.  These  groups  are  (1)  English,  (2)  ancient  and  modern 
languages,  (3)  history,  economics,  and  political  science,  (4)  philosophy 
and  mathematics,  and  (5)  natural  science.  I  was  interested  to  see 
what  proportion  of  the  students  under  the  elective  system  of  Harvard 
actually  comply  with  these  conditions.  Taking  for  the  purpose  the 
class  that  graduated  this  year,  and  discarding  those  men  who  had 
entered  with  such  advanced  standing  as  to  relieve  them  of  a  year's 
work,  there  remained  three  hundred  and  sixty-one  who  had  taken 
thirteen  of  the  seventeen  courses  required  for  the  degree  of  A.  B. 
First  as  regards  the  scattering  of  electives  among  the  five  groups  of 
subjects  already  mentioned:  An  amount  of  work  equal  to  that  which 
must  be  taken  here  is  substantially  required  in  two  of  them — English 
and  modern  languages :  and  for  the  other  three  groups  all  but  thirteen 
of  the  three  hundred  and  sixty-one  men  had  taken  some  elective  in 
history  or  political  science,  all  but  fifty-five  had  taken  one  in  the  group 
of  philosophy  and  mathematics,  and  all  but  forty-one  in  natural 
science.  In  the  great  majority  of  cases,  though  not  always,  the  pro- 
portion of  time  devoted  to  the  subject  was  as  large  as  that  which  must 
be  done  here.  So  that  in  this  respect  by  far  the  greater  part  of  the 
students  fulfill  the  requirements  made  in  the  University  of  Illinois. 
As  regards  concentration  of  work  the  comparison  is  less  exact,  for 
the  fields  covered  by  separate  departments  vary  much  in  different 
universities.     In  fact  I  made  no  statistics  by  departments,  but  by 

(502) 


193 

eight  groups  of  closely  related  departments.  These  cover  on  the 
average  considerably  more  ground  than  the  fifteen  departments  here, 
and  hence  the  proportion  of  work  in  each  of  them  would  naturally  be 
greater.  Now  I  found  that  every  one  of  the  three  hundred  and  sixty- 
one  Harvard  graduates  had  taken  at  least  three  courses  in  one  of  these 
groups  of  related  departments.  All  but  seven  had  taken  four  courses, 
and  all  but  twenty-four,  five  courses.  A  large  number  of  men  had 
taken  in  one  group  more  than  the  maximum  amount  permitted  in  a 
single  department  by  the  regulations  of  this  University.  But  few  of 
them  took  more  than  they  might  under  the  rules  have  taken  here  in  a 
similar  group  of  departments.  In  short  the  greater  part  of  the  class 
of  1905  at  Harvard  would  have  had  to  make  no  changes  whatever  in 
their  choice  of  electives  to  comply  with  the  regulations  in  force  here, 
and  for  most  of  the  rest  the  changes  would  probably  have  been  slight. 

Moreover,  no  regulations  can  in  terms  provide  an  absolute  security 
against  ignorance  even  of  most  elementary  facts.  It  is  theoretically 
possible,  although  in  practice  inconceivable,  that  a  man  might  graduate 
either  here  or  at  Harvard,  without  having  heard  the  name  of  Charle- 
magne, without  knowing  whether  the  Book  of  Job  was  written  by 
Isaiah  or  by  Aristotle,  and  without  the  faintest  idea  of  the  difference 
between  a  planet  and  a  fixed  star. 

The  time  seems  to  have  come  when  it  ought  to  be  possible  to 
measure  the  ultimate  results  actually  achieved  by  our  various  systems, 
and  to  substitute  much  more  fully  than  heretofore  experience  for 
foresight.  This  is  what  I  propose  to  do  here  in  a  tentative  way  for 
the  only  system  of  which  I  have  had  personal  experience  or  the  means 
of  obtaining  accurate  information — that  is  the  system  of  nearly  free 
election.  In  doing  so  I  have  no  intention  of  contrasting  that  system 
with  others  that  I  have  not  myself  observed.  An  attempt  to  compare 
something  of  which  one  has  had  actual  experience,  with  something 
else  that  one  knows  only  by  imagination,  is  more  apt  to  show  the 
prepossessions  of  the  speaker  than  the  relative  merits  of  the  things 
compared. 

The  subject  naturally  divides  itself  into  material  or  external,  and 
the  moral  effects  of  the  system ;  and  by  the  material  or  external  I  do 
not  mean  the  financial, — although  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  free 
election  system  is  highly  expensive, — I  mean  the  actual  use  made  by 
the  student  of  his  freedom  of  choice. 

In  the  discussions  during  the  early  days  of  the  elective  system 
grave  fears  were  expressed  that  students  would  avoid  the  subjects 
requiring  strenuous  mental  effort,  and  seek  out  those  which  were 
easy.  It  is  no  doubt  true  that  mathematics  is  regarded  as  a  severe 
training,  and  is  not  generally  popular;  but  this  is  largely  due  to  the 
immemorial  tradition  of  boys'  schools  that  mankind  is  divided  into 
a  small  minoritv  to  whom  mathematics  presents  no  difficulty,  and  a 

(503) 


194 

large  majority  who  are  by  nature  unfitted  to  learn  it.  The  ordinary 
boy  finding  obstacles  at  the  outset  concludes  that  he  belongs  to  the 
latter  class,  and  had  better  leave  the  subject  alone.  There  is  also 
some  tendency  to  avoid  courses  that  are  supposed  to  be  peculiarly 
hard.  On  the  other  hand  there  seems  to  be  no  general  purpose  to 
select  the  easy,  or  as  they  are  commonly  called,  soft  courses.  A 
student,  especially  if  he  is  trying  to  carry  more  electives  than  he  can 
attend  to  properly, will  often  take  one  or  two  that  are  reputed  soft; 
and  there  will  always  be  a  small  percentage  of  indolent  men  with 
whom  the  desire  to  shirk  work  is  unusually  strong.  But  both  statis- 
tics and  the  opinion  of  those  who  are  best  qualified  to  judge,  sustain 
the  belief  that  any  systematic  attempt  to  base  the  choice  of  electives 
upon  ease  is  rare,^  and  that  is  distinctly  my  own  impression. 

There  are  other  reasons,  also,  why  this  should  not  prove  a  serious 
danger.  Instructors  do  not  like  to  have  their  courses  thought  soft, 
and  it  is  only  a  man  of  strong  individuality,  of  earnest  faith  in  the  real 
value  of  his  work,  who  is  indifferent  to  criticism  of  that  kind.  Nor  is 
the  existence  of  a  very  small'  number  of  such  courses  necessarily  an 
evil.  A  couple  of  years  ago  I  happened  to  see  a  collection  of  brief 
college  reminiscences  by  all  the  members  of  a  class  that  had  graduated 
about  ten  years  before.  Among  other  things  they  spoke  of  their 
studies,  and  the  course  to  which  the  largest  number  referred  with 
grateful  satisfaction  was  one  that  was  notoriously  easy.  Without 
requiring  much  labor  on  their  part  a  great  teacher  had  opened  their 
eyes  to  a  new  region  of  thought.  Moreover,  soft  courses  are  not  con- 
fined to  an  elective  system.  Of  the  few  required  courses  in  my  own 
college  days  one  or  two  were  closely  akin  to  a  farce.  I  might,  indeed, 
add  that  the  minimum  amount  of  work  required  for  the  degree  of 
A.  B.  seems  to  me  distinctly  greater  than  it  was  in  those  days. 

Another  prevalent  fear  was  that  freedom  of  election  would  lead 
either  to  excessive  specialization,  or  to  such  a  scattering  of  choices 
over  wide  fields  that  the  student  would  have  a  superficial  acquaintance 
with  many  subjects,  without  a  profound  knowledge  of  any  one  of 
them.  That  each  of  the  evils  occurs  in  some  cases  cannot  be  gainsaid, 
but  how  often  they  occur  may  be  illustrated  from  the  choice  of  elec- 
tives of  the  class  of  1905.  If  we  divide  the  subjects  taught  into  eight 
groups,  (1)  ancient  languages,  (2)  English,  (3)  other  modern  languages, 
(4)  history  and  political  science,  (5)  philosophy,  (6)  fine  arts,  (7) 
mathematics,  and  (8)  natural  sciences,  we  find  that  almost  everyone 
took  something  in  English,  modern  languages^,  and  history  and  politi- 
cal science.  About  two-thirds  of  the  class  took  some  philosophy, 
about  one-half  some  fine  arts,  rather  more  than  half  some  classics,  and 


iCf.  Report  of  President  Eliot,  1884-85,  pp.  39-45.  Report  of  Dean  Briggs,  1899-1900,  pp. 
116-17.  "The  Elective  System  at  Harvard,"  Harv  .Grad.  Mag.,  June,  1903,  p.  532,  and  some  results 
compiled  from  the  answers  of  recent  graduates  in  Harv.  Grad.  Mag.,  March,  1902,  pp.  357-360. 

2These  two  subjects  are  practically  required. 

(504) 


195 

rather  less  than  half  some  mathematics.  Except,  therefore,  for 
classics  and  mathematics,  which  almost  all  the  members  of  the  class 
had  studied  at  school,  and  for  fine  arts,  which  is  treated  in  many 
places  as  quite  outside  the  ordinary  curriculum,  the  great  bulk  of  the 
men  had  obtained  in  college  at  least  a  slight  acquaintance  with  all  the 
principal  fields  of  knowledge.  There  were,  of  course,  exceptions,  and 
very  bad  ones.  Three  men.  for  example,  devoted  their  time  almost 
exclusively  to  natural  science,  or  engineering,  taking  a  little  mathe- 
matics, just  enough  modem  languages  to  read  scientific  books  in  a 
foreign  tongue,  and  nothing  else.  These  men  failed  to  appreciate  the 
object  of  a  college  education.  But  perhaps  their  error  can  hardly  be 
ascribed  to  the  elective  system,  for  had  they  not  been  free  to  conse- 
crate their  time  to  science  they  would  probably  not  have  gone  to  col- 
lege, but  to  a  scientific  school.  Except  for  a  few  such  cases  of  erratic 
over-specialization,  the  result  cannot  be  said  to  justify  the  fear  that 
under  a  system  of  free  election  students  will  concentrate  their  attention 
on  one  narrow  field  to  the  exclusion  of  other  subjects  with  which  all 
educated  men  ought  to  have  some  familiarity.  In  regard  to  the  op- 
posite peril,  that  of  a  general  smattering  of  many  things  with  a  real 
command  of  none,  the  figures  are  interesting.  Over  ninety-four  per 
cent,  of  the  class  took  five  or  more  of  the  seventeen  courses  required 
for  a  degree  in  some  one  of  the  eight  groups  already  described;  eighty 
per  cent,  took  six  or  more  courses  in  one  of  them;  fifty-six  percent, 
took  eight  (that  is  about  one-half)  or  more  in  one  group ;  thirteen  and 
one-half  per  cent,  took  eleven  (that  is  about  two-thirds)  or  more  in  one 
group,  and,  in  fact,  the  tendency  to  concentrate  a  large  part  of  one's 
choices  in  a  single  field  seems  on  the  whole  to  be  growing.^  With 
such  an  array  of  figures  there  might  seem  to  be  no  danger  of  a  lack  of 
that  concentration  which  insures  a  thorough  knowledge  of  one  subject. 
But  this  is  not  always  true.  Suppose,  for  example,  a  student  were  to 
choose  the  introductory  courses  in  French,  German,  Italian,  Spanish 
and  Russian,  he  would  have  taken  five  electives  in  modern  languages, 
and  would  not  have  more  than  a  rudimentary  idea  of  any  foreign 
tongue.  A  choice  like  that  would  be  absurdly  improbable;  and  yet 
the  only  criticism  of  the  elective  system  commonly  heard  among  the 
instructors  at  Harvard  is  that  too  many  men  fail  to  take  enough 
advanced  work  to  acquire  a  mastery  of  one  subject.  One  of  the  chief 
advantages,  indeed,  of  the  system  is  that  it  affords  a  chance  to  go  far, 
even  to  the  point  of  taking  courses  intended  primarily  for  graduates ; 
that  it  enables  the  student  to  make  an  offing  on  the  sea  of  knowledge, 
and  learn  to  sail  in  deep  water.  I  do  not  say  that  this  cannot  be  done 
under  other  systems,  but  I  suspect  that  it  cannot  be  done  so  well. 
The  men  who  do  it  with  a  part  of  their  electives,  while  scattering  the 
rest  broadly,  get  the  best  kind  of  training;  but  there  are  a  considerable 

iReport  of  Pres.  Eliot,  1884-85,  pp.  21-24. 

(505) 


196 

minority  who  do  not  do  it,  and  never  get  much  beyond  work  of  a  some- 
what elementary  nature.'  This  difficulty  can  be  overcome  if  not  by 
suggestion  and  encouragement  on  the  part  of  the  faculty,  then  by 
requiring  a  certain  amount  of  advanced  work  in  some  department. 
But  after  all  the  number  of  elementary  courses  in  any  one  field  is 
small,  and  the  figures  already  given  upon  the  concentration  of  choice 
show  that  the  prophesies  of  general  smattering  have  not  been  fulfilled. 

It  would  appear  that  the  students  as  a  rule  concentrate  a  part  of 
their  electives  upon  one  field,  and  scatter  the  rest  broadly.  No 
doubt  the  proportion  of  time  allotted  to  the  principal  subject  and  the 
accessories,  to  the  major  and  the  minors,  is  by  no  means  always  wise. 
But  probably  no  two  professional  educators  would  agree  exactly  upon 
what  that  proportion  ought  to  be.  In  Oxford  and  Cambridge  the 
honor  degree  is  conferred  after  an  examination  in  a  single  field  or 
group  of  subjects.  In  this  country  we  are  generally  in  favor  of  a  much 
wider  basis  for  our  colleges.  At  Harvard  the  Faculty  has  recently  set 
up  a  standard,  by  deciding  to  grant  a  degree  with  distinction  to  stu- 
dents who  attain  a  certain  grade  of  excellence  in  work  in  one  subject, 
or  in  closely  related  subjects,  amounting  to  about  one-half  of  all  their 
studies ;  and  this  may  serve  as  a  type  for  the  proper  extent  of  concen- 
tration. After  all  education  is  not  limited  to  the  class  room.  A  stu- 
dent ought  to  cultivate  himself  in  other  lines,  both  in  college  and 
throughout  his  life,  and  for  the  man  who  does  not  do  so  college  has 
been  little  short  of  a  failure. 

If  the  fears  that  were  aroused  by  the  elective  system  have  been 
only  in  small  part  justified,  the  hopes  that  were  cherished  have  also 
proved  in  some  measure  delusive.  It  was  assumed  that  each  student 
would  follow  his  natural  bent,  and  it  was  believed  that  in  so  doing 
he  would  choose  the  subjects  that  he  most  needed  for  his  own  future 
career  and  his  own  intellectual  growth.  It  was  thought,  also,  that 
the  very  process  of  reflecting  upon  the  problem  of  his  own  education 
would  be  of  great  value  to  him.  Now,  apart  from  the  question  how 
far  a  student's  inclinations  are  his  own  best  guide,  apart  from  the 
eternal  question  of  education  as  a  pleasure  and  a  discipline,  of  the 
relative  importance  of  developing  the  strong  and  fortifying  the  weak 
mental  qualities,  apart  from  these  things  which  bear  upon  the  wisdom 
of  a  student's  following  his  own  bent,  a  large  proportion  of  the  stu- 
dents have  no  very  definite  bent;  no  clear  idea  of  the  object  of  college 
studies,  or  the  means  of  attaining  that  object ;  and  many  of  them  have 
not  decided  upon  their  future  career.  Few  of  them  have  in  their 
minds  any  general  plan  of  education,  and  fewer  still,  perhaps,  devote 
any  systematic  thought  to  an  effort  to  work  out  such  a  plan,  although 
in  their  defense  it  may  be  observed  that  the  same  criticism  often 
applies  to  the  discussions  of  professional  educators. 

iCf.  Report  of  Dean  Briggs,  1899-1900,  p.  117.  "The  Elective  Svstem  at  Harvard,"  Harv. 
Grad.  Mag.,  June,  1903,  pp.  533-34. 

(506) 


197 

The  motives  of  the  students  for  the  selection  of  their  courses  are 
manifold,  and  doubtless  not  always  either  simple  or  completely  con- 
scious. In  1903  a  committee  of  the  Faculty  at  Harvard  sent  to 
students  series  of  questions  relating  to  the  courses  they  had  taken 
•during  the  previous  year.  The  students  were  selected  so  as  to  represent 
every  grade  of  achievement  in  each  course  in  the  college,  and  more 
than  seventeen  hundred  answers  were  received.  One  of  the  questions 
asked  was  the  reason  for  electing  that  particular  course,  and  although 
undergraduates  are  not  more  competent  than  other  men  to  analyze 
aright  the  motives  of  their  conduct,  still  the  answers  show  what  they 
believe  their  motives  to  have  been,  and  the  nature  of  the  considera- 
tions they  take  consciously  into  account. 

One  of  the  motives  most  commonly  given  was  a  liking  for  the  sub- 
ject. This  may  mean  anything  from  a  strong  interest  to  the  passing 
fancy  of  a  man  who  is  obliged  to  choose  among  subjects  for  none  of 
which  he  really  cares,  and  hence  it  is  too  vague  to  form  the  basis  for 
any  conclusions. 

Another  motive  that  appears  is  a  liking  for  the  instructor,  and  this 
is  wholly  good.  The  liberty  to  select  one's  teacher  is,  in  fact,  among 
the  chief  advantages  of  the  elective  system,  although  it  is  not  fullv 
appreciated  at  the  time  by  most  undergraduates.  In  after  life  a  man 
often  looks  back  upon  some  teacher  as  a  landmark  in  his  education. 
An  instructor  suited  to  one  pupil  may  not  be  suited  to  another;  but 
the  student  with  the  discrimination  or  good  fortune  to  come  in  contact 
with  a  man  who  stirs  his  enthusiasm  for  intellectual  effort  obtains  a 
lasting  benefit  that  far  outweighs  any  intrinsic  value  in  the  subject  he 
is  taught. 

Another  motive  assigned  for  the  choice  of  subjects  was  their  educa- 
tional value,  or  the  fact  that  they  are  an  essential  part  of  the  equip- 
ment of  a  citizen,  and  one  is  naturally  curious  to  see  what  subjects  are 
viewed  in  that  light.  In  their  report  the  committee  say,  "  It  is  notice- 
able that  the  students  regard  English  and  other  modern  languages, 
philosophy,  history,  geology  and  some  other  studies,  as  culture  sub- 
jects in  a  higher  sense  than  mathematics,  the  classics  and  most  of  the 
sciences."^  Now  it  may  be  observed  that  these  subjects  which 
appear  to  be  considered  by  the  students  as  especially  valuable  for 
culture  are  on  the  whole  the  ones  most  largely  chosen.  The  whole 
number  of  choices  made  by  all  the  students  last  year  (counting  a  half 
course  as  a  half  choice)  was  13,463,  and  of  these  3,136  were  history, 
government  and  economics,  2,047  and  one-half  in  modern  languages, 
and  1,603  in  English,^  while  seven  hundred  and  sixty-four  and  one- 
half  were  in  classics  and  four  hundred  and  fifty-four  in  mathematics. 
It  may  be  observed  also  that  the  subjects  most  largely  chosen  are 


iReport  of  the  Committee  on  Improving  Instruction  in  Harvard  College,  p.  9. 
2This  includes  the  required  course  in  English,  but  the  number  of   elective  courses  in  English 
was,  by  chance,  reduced  that  year  below  the  normal. 

(507) 


198 

those  which  a  number  of  recent  graduates,  in  response  to  a  circular  of 
the  seminary  of  pedagogy,  most  commonly  said  they  would  like  to  see 
required.  One  cannot  fail  to  regret  the  comparative  neglect  of  the 
classics  and  of  mathematics,  the  very  subjects  formerly  regarded  as  the 
very  basis  of  culture,  and  as  the  essentials  in  any  liberal  education 
But  it  has  been  the  result  of  a  slow  process,  and  in  the  case  of  the  class 
ics,  at  least,  it  is  not  due  to  any  sudden  revulsion  against  the  old 
curriculum.  In  the  year  1872-73,  when  the  elective  system  was  still 
in  its  infancy,  elective  courses  in  Latin  and  Greek  were  among  the 
most  numerously  attended.  One  course  in  Greek  contained  two- 
fifths,  and  one  in  Latin  three-fifths  of  the  class,  while  five  other  classical 
courses  contained  one-fifth  of  the  class  apiece.  Ten  years  later  only 
one  course  in  Greek  and  one  in  Latin  contained  a  fifth  of  the  class.  In 
1892-93  Greek  disappears  even  from  this  category,  and  in  1902-03, 
although  the  number  of  largely  attended  courses  had  increased  very 
much,  a  single  Latin  elective  represents  the  classics  among  the  courses 
that  attracted  one-fifth  of  the  class. 

A  counterpart  to  the  motive  of  culture  is  that  of  professional 
utility,  which  bulks  large  in  the  mind  of  the  undergraduate.  Strictly 
professional  subjects  are  not  supposed  to  find  a  place  among  college 
studies.  But  there  is  one  important  exception  which  is  brought  into 
strong  relief  by  a  survey  of  the  choices  made.  Among  the  members  of 
the  class  of  1905  there  were  forty-nine  men  who  specialized  to  excess — 
for  I  suppose  we  should  all  agree  that  taking  eleven  or  more  courses 
out  of  seventeen  is  specializing  to  excess.  Now  mark  how  these 
forty-nine  were  distributed.  One  was  in  mathematics,  three  each  in 
fine  arts  and  modern  languages,  seven  in  ancient  languages,  fourteen 
in  history  and  political  science,  and  twenty-one  in  natural  science. 
Of  those  who  devoted  themselves  to  history  several,  no  doubt,  pro- 
posed to  practice  law,  for  this  often  happens.  Probably  by  far  the 
greater  part  of  the  other  specializers  were  studying  their  professions. 
Most  of  those  in  natural  science  were  engrossed  bv  engineering  courses, 
and  might  more  appropriately  have  been  registered  in  the  scientific 
school.  The  three  men  in  fine  arts  may  well  have  been  preparing  for 
architecture.  It  is  safe  to  assume  that  almost  all  the  rest  intended  to 
be  teachers  in  colleges  or  schools.  In  short,  among  men  doing  what 
is  properly  college  work  over-specialization  is  largely  confined  to  those 
who  propose  to  teach.  It  is  the  future  educators,  the  men  of  our  own 
profession,  who  are  especially  guilty  of  that  sin.  To  them  the  college 
is  a  professional  school,  and  too  often  is  not  first  of  all  a  place  to  get  a 
liberal  education. 

For  the  rest  of  the  men  the  college  courses  furnish  as  a  rule  no 
specific  professional  training,  but  a  large  proportion  of  students  choose 
their  electives  with  a  view  to  preparation  for  their  future  careers.  In 
this  they  would  appear  to  be  neither  more  or  less  intelligent  than  other 

(508) 


199 

people  who  talk  about  the  matter.  They  seem  to  think  chiefly  of  the 
acquisition  of  facts,  and  are  continually  asking  whether  the  knowledge 
of  such  and  such  a  subject  is  not  valuable  in  a  certain  profession. 
Now,  knowledge  vanishes  away,  but  mental  training,  habits  of  thought 
and  methods  of  looking  at  the  problems  of  nature  and  man  endure. 
Fortunately,  students  are  usually  unable  to  gratify  a  desire  to  acquire 
facts  that  will  be  useful  to  them  in  their  subsequent  career,  and, 
indeed,  have  somewhat  distorted  notions  about  the  class  of  facts  that 
will  be  valuable  to  them.  They  are  continually  asking  whether  the 
knowledge  of  American  history  is  not  very  useful  to  a  lawyer.  From 
the  point  of  view  of  business  success  it  is  probably  not  as  useful  as  a 
familiarity  with  literature,  or  with  mechanics;  but  the  training  it 
gives  is  of  inestimable  value  to  a  lawyer,  whether  he  remembers  the 
chronological  order  of  the  presidents  of  the  United  States  or  not,  not 
because  the  methods  of  thought  in  history  and  law  are  the  same.  On 
the  contrary,  they  are  very  different.  The  process  of  reasoning  in  law 
is  perhaps  more  purely  deductive,  than  in  any  other  form  of  mental 
work  in  which  a  large  number  of  men  are  habitually  engaged  at  the 
present  day;  w-hereas  history  stands  very  nearly  at  the  opposite  pole 
of  thought.  It  is,  indeed,  partly  because  the  methods  of  thought  are 
so  different  that  history  is  not  a  bad  thing  for  a  lawyer  to  study.  A 
man  who  has  specialized  in  college  in  one  line,  and  in  his  professional 
school  in  a  very  different  one,  has  not  a  bad  foundation  for  an  educa- 
tion, whatever  else  he  may  or  may  not  have  done.  Moreover,  the 
training  that  a  student  in  history  gets  in  weighing  evidence,  in  the  use 
of  sources,  and  generally  in  the  method  of  historical  research,  is  of 
great  value  to  a  lawyer,  or,  for  that  matter,  to  a  man  who  pursues  any 
other  career.  The  training  that  a  lawyer  would  get  in  the  study  of 
literature  or  natural  science  would  be  valuable  also,  and  I  shall  return 
to  this  point  in  a  moment.  In  general,  however,  I  believe  that  the 
students  take  their  future  career  too  much  into  consideration,  and  that 
it  is  a  mistake  to  look  upon  college  as  a  preparation  for  earning  bread. 
In  discussing  education  the  whole  world  today  seems  a  little  prone  to 
forget  that  a  man  has  a  soul  as  well  as  a  pocket,  and  that  the  two  are 
not  necessarily  filled  by  the  same  process.  No  doubt  a  college  edu- 
cation does,  by  broadening  a  man's  capacities,  make  him  in  the  long 
run  far  more  effective  as  a  bread  winner,  but  it  is  chiefly  because  he 
has  a  soul  that  the  existence  of  colleges  as  distinguished  from  profes- 
sional schools  is  justified. 

We  are  said  to  live  in  a  material  age,  where  the  ruling  passion  is  the 
love  of  money;  but  this  is  hardly  fair  to  ourselves.  Every  age  has  the 
defects  of  its  qualities.  In  mediaeval  times  the  ideal  of  Hfe  was  trans- 
cendentally  high,  but  it  was  not  thought  necessary  that  the  great 
mass  of  men  should  attempt  to  conform  to  it.  There  was  a  gulf 
between  theory  and  practice,  which  no  one  but  the  saint  bridged. 

(509) 


200 

There  was  a  sharp  contrast  between  the  ecstasy  of  the  beatific  vision 
and  the  barbarism  of  the  world.  Today  men  demand  the  carrying  out  of 
professions.  They  demand  that  people  shall  live  up  to  their  ideals, 
with  the  result  that  the  actual  life  is  far  more  humane,  and  perhaps 
the  ideal  is  not  so  high.  We  live  not  so  much  in  a  material,  as  in  a 
practical  age,  where  the  thing  which  we  demand,  and  the  test  which 
we  apply  is  efficiency;  and  in  the  case  of  efficiency,  as  in  other  things, 
money  comes  to  be  regarded  as  a  measure  of  value,  and  therefore  as  a 
test  of  success  and  the  aim  of  ambition.  Now,  just  as  the  monasteries, 
and  the  universities  that  grew  out  of  them,  held  up  a  light  in  a  dark 
world,  so  it  is  one  of  the  most  important  functions  of  our  colleges  to 
hold  up  an  ideal  in  a  practical  world.  Not  that  there  is  anything 
wrong  or  improper  in  the  consideration  of  future  utility  in  a  college 
curriculum,  but  it  is  a  misfortune  that  it  should  to  the  extent  that  is 
now  true  crowd  out  considerations  of  a  higher  nature. 

There  is  another  common  motive  for  choice  which  is  not  recognized 
by  the  students  themselves,  for  only  two  out  of  the  seventeen  hundred 
spoke  of  it:  it  is  that  of  fashion.  Since  the  elective  system  was  intro- 
duced the  large  courses  have  not  only  grown  very  much  in  actual 
numbers,  but  they  have  even  increased  in  proportion  to  the  number 
of  undergraduates.  In  the  year  1872-73,  there  were  nineteen  elective 
courses  which  contained  one-fifth  or  more  of  the  class.  As  the  system 
progressed,  and  the  number  of  electives  offered  was  increa.sed,  one 
would  naturally  expect  to  find  a  smaller  proportion  of  the  men  in  each 
course,  and  hence  a  smaller  number  of  courses  that  contained  large 
fractions  of  the  class.  This  was  at  first  true.  In  1882-83,  there  were 
only  fifteen  courses  that  contained  one-fifth  or  more  of  the  class ;  but 
then  a  change  began.  In  1892-93,  the  number  of  courses  containing 
one-fifth  of  the  class  had  increased  to  twenty-five,  and  one  of  them  was 
taken  by  four-fifths  of  the  students.  In  1901-02,  the  number  of 
courses  that  contained  one-fifth  or  more  of  the  class  had  increased  to 
twenty-seven  and  a  half,  of  which  two  were  taken  by  four-fifths  of  all 
the  students. 

Now,  when  a  flock  of  sheep  turns  and  runs  in  a  mass  across  a  field 
it  mav  be  that  one  motive  acting  independently  upon  a  number  of 
rational  minds  produces  simultaneously  in  them  all  the  same  convic- 
tion, but  that  is  not  the  usual  explanation.  The  truth  is  that  the 
elective  system,  like  the  doctrine  of  laissez  faire,  and  like  the  whole 
political  philosophy  of  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries,  as- 
sumed that  a  man  was  strictly  a  rational  being,  whereas  in  fact  he  is 
mainlv  an  imitative  animal.  His  actions  are  onlv  partially  deliberate, 
and  are  in  the  main  governed  by  habits,  traditions  and  suggestions 
over  which  he  has,  in  fact,  little  control. 

This  brings  me  to  another  question,  and  that  is  whether  any  great 
wisdom  is  required  to  make  a  useful  choice  of  electives.     It  is  easy 

(510) 


201 

enough  to  teach  a  dog  to  pick  out  the  ace  of  spades  from  a  number  of 
cards  laid  face  down  on  the  floor,  if  everyone  of  them  is  an  ace  of 
spades.  Now  a  proper  distribution  of  a  man's  studies,  his  attitude 
of  mind  toward  them,  and  the  methods  in  which  he  studies  them,  are 
of  the  utmost  importance ;  but  what  the  particular  subjects  are  is  a 
matter  of  far  less  consequence,  whether  we  regard  his  own  mental 
development  or  his  preparation  for  a  subsequent  career.  This  may 
not  be  equally  true  of  all  professions,  but  it  is  certainly  true  of  most  of 
them.  In  my  own  class  in  the  Law  School  there  were  men  who  had 
distinguished  themselves  in  classics,  philosophy,  history  and  mathe- 
matics. These  men  all  had  a  great  initial  advantage  over  those  who 
had  had  no  severe  mental  training  of  any  kind,  but  they  showed  no 
marked  advantage  in  preparation  over  each  other.  With  the  increas- 
ing range  of  human  knowledge  we  may  today  define  a  liberal  education 
as  knowing  a  little  of  everything,  and  something  well,  and  it  makes  no 
great  difference  what  that  something  is. 

We  have  been  dealing  with  the  results  of  the  elective  sys- 
tem so  far  as  the  actual  choice  of  studies  is  concerned,  but  the 
moral  aspects  of  the  system  are  certainly  of  not  less  consequence. 
The  moral  effect  on  the  instructor  has  been,  as  far  as  I  can  see,  entirely 
beneficial.  It  has  made  him  feel  that  he  is  to  his  pupils  more  of  a 
guide,  philosopher  and  friend,  and  less  of  a  task-master.  The  fact 
that  he  can  say  to  a  slothful  or  reluctant  pupil,  "If  you  do  not  like 
this  course,  you  need  not  take  it.  You  can  find  something  you  do 
care  for,"  puts  him  in  the  right  relation  towards  his  students,  for  he 
assumes  that  they  are  interested  in  the  subject.  Moreover,  the  system 
makes  it  possible  for  him  to  give  highly  advanced  courses  to  the  few 
pupils  who  are  prepared  to  follow  him.  No  doubt  this  is  true,  in  any 
case,  of  a  graduate  school,  but  the  elective  system  gives  to  the  instruc- 
tor in  the  college  much  the  same  position  that  he  has  in  a  graduate 
school. 

The  moral  effect  upon  the  students  has  certainlv  been  less  wide- 
spread than  was  hoped,  although  it  is  hard  to  tell  with  precision  how 
many  students  have  been  stimulated  by  it.  In  response  to  the  circular 
of  the  Pedagogical  Seminary  a  few  vears  ago,  sixty-two  per  cent,  of  the 
recent  graduates  who  answered,  said  that  the  elective  system  had 
promoted  strenuous  work;  six  per  cent,  said  it  had  undermined  it; 
seventeen  per  cent,  that  it  had  done  neither;  while  fifteen  per  cent, 
were  doubtful.  But,  in  considering  evidence  of  that  kind,  two  things 
must  be  remembered:  first,  that  only  a  very  small  part  of  the  men 
to  whom  the  circular  was  sent  answered  at  all,  and  presumably  that 
part  consisted  in  large  measure  of  those  who  held  decided  opinions ;  and 
in  the  second  place  ^  these  men  were  comparing  a  system  they  had 
known  with  another  at  which  they  could  only  guess.  One  of  the 
arguments  formerlv  adduced  in  favor  of  free  elective  courses  was  that 

(511) 


202 

young  men  who  were  incorrigibly  indolent  in  college  suddenly  experi- 
enced a  change  of  heart,  and  worked  furiously  when  they  entered  a 
professional  school.  It  was  hoped  that  they  would  do  the  same  in 
college  if  they  could  choose  their  own  studies,  but  this  type  of  man 
has  not  disappeared.  He  is  still  with  us,  and  unfortunately  far  too 
common.  He  keeps  above  the  minimum  line  required  for  his  college 
degree,  but  he  does  not  find  in  the  elective  pamphlet  anything  of 
really  absorbing  interest,  nor  does  the  privilege  of  selecting  his  own 
line  of  work  fire  his  imagination.  Owing  to  the  habit  that  I  have 
already  deplored  of  estimating  college  studies  too  exclusively  by  the 
value  of  the  facts  imparted,  and  by  their  visible  bearing  upon  a  future 
career,  he  does  not  appreciate  the  true  meaning  of  college,  or  its  value 
to  himself.  Too  often  it  seems  to  him  an  interlude,  a  sort  of  holiday, 
and  not  an  integral  fragment  of  his  life  that  moulds  his  character  and 
shapes  his  intellect. 

A  survey  of  the  results  of  the  elective  system  after  nearly  a  genera- 
tion of  experience,  would,  therefore,  seem  to  show  that  it  has  not  led 
us  to  perfection  and  certainly  not  to  disaster.  In  some  form  it  was 
inevitable;  but  it  has  wrought  no  vast  change  for  good  or  evil  in  the 
human  nature  of  undergraduates.  It  has  done  good,  and  it  has  defects, 
but  although  some  of  those  who  have  had  experience  of  it  may  desire 
to  modify  its  working  in  details,  probably  no  one  at  Harvard  would 
now  think  it  possible  or  desirable  to  return  to  an  earlier  state  of  things. 
Much  of  what  I  have  said  in  the  form  of  criticism  is,  I  presume,  equally 
true  of  every  form  of  college  curriculum,  and  is  not  the  product  of  any 
one  system.  Are  we  not,  in  fact,  mistaken  in  expecting  great  moral 
results  to  flow  from  merely  imposing  or  removing  restrictions  ?  What- 
ever may  have  been  true  in  earlier  days,  have  we  not  reached  a  time 
when  we  cannot  rely  for  the  moral  and  intellectual  tone  of  the  under- 
graduate either  upon  rigid  discipline  or  upon  his  own  impulses  ?  Is  it 
not  true  that  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  our  land  the  ordi- 
nar}'  college  man  is  less  deeply  in  earnest  in  his  work  than  the  student 
in  a  professional  school?  Is  it  not  true,  also,  that  in  our  colleges 
athletics  appeal  far  more  forcibly  to  the  imagination  of  the  student 
than  scholarship;  and  that  the  successful  athlete  is  incomparably 
more  of  a  hero  than  the  scholar?  Is  not  this  so  true  that  we  assume  it 
must  be  so  in  the  nature  of  things?  And,  yet,  is  there  any  intrinsic 
reason  why  men  should  take  more  pleasure  or  pride  in  the  exercise  of 
their  muscles  than  in  that  of  their  brains,  or  should  hold  physical 
triumphs  in  so  much  greater  honor  than  intellectual  ones? 

I  would  not  depreciate  the  use  of  athletics,  or  the  value  of  the 
enthusiasm  they  create.  They  are  a  healthful  spring  of  energy  and 
should  not  be  discouraged,  but  have  we  not  suffered  them  to  monopo- 
lize the  interest  of  students  too  much?  Have  we  not  allowed  the 
publicity  of  the  newspapers,  and  of  the  crowds  cheering  on  the  bleach- 

(512) 


203 

ers  to  distort  in  the  minds  of  students  the  proportion  of  things  ?  And 
have  we  not  been  ourselves  misled  by  our  discussions  about  the  cur- 
riculum, to  allow  too  much  the  moral  and  intellectual  welfare  of  our 
students  to  take  care  of  itself?  Ought  we  not  to  make  greater  use  of 
the  fact  that  man  is  an  imitative  animal,  a  creature  of  fashion,  and 
create  a  higher  intellectual  tone  by  getting  hold  of  the  natural  leaders, 
and  starting  them  to  set  the  pace  aright?  The  cowboy  knows  that 
although  he  must  urge  on  the  lame  and  lazy  steers,  it  is  an  unkind  and 
thankless  task,  and  that  the  real  progress  of  his  herd  depends  upon 
starting  the  leaders  betimes  where  he  would  have  them  go,  well  know- 
ing that  the  whole  herd  will  follow.  Is  not  a  part  of  our  problem  to  be 
solved  in  the  same  way,  not  by  formal  systems,  but  by  imparting  to 
the  stronger  man  in  each  class  a  truer  conception  of  the  real  meaning 
and  privilege  of  college  life,  and  thereby  make  the  ordinary  student 
attach  greater  esteem  and  honor  to  scholarship  and  intellecutal  power? 
But  this  raises  a  large  question  quite  distinct  from  the  subject  of  this 
address.  I  wanted  merely  to  point  out  that  just  as  neither  laissez 
faire  over  commercial  regulation  has  changed  the  nature  of  man,  so  no 
system  of  arranging  college  work  can  revolutionize  the  character  of 
students;  that  for  moral  effects  we  must  relv  mainly  on  moral  agencies. 


(513) 


204 


THE  HISTORICAL  MEETING 
The  Chapel,  4:00  p.m. 

PROGRAM 
The  President  of  the  University  Presiding 

General  Theme:     The  Recognition  of  Those  Who  Have  Rendered 

Distinguished  Services  to  the  University. 
Music:     University  Anthem;  University  of  IlHnois  Men's  Glee  Club. 
Introductory  Address:     The  President  of  the  University. 
Addresses  on  "The  Builders  of  the  University:"     Professor  Arthur  N. 

Talbot,  Class  of  1881 ;  Honorable  Henry  M.  Beardsley,  Class  of  187  9. 
Music:  Illinois. 
Responses : — 

For  the  Board  of  University  Trustees,  Honorable  Emory  Cobb; 

For  the  Early  Resident  Trustees,  Honorable  Joseph  O.  Cunning- 
ham; 

For  the  Senior  Members  of  the   Faculty,   Professors  Samuel  W. 
Shattuck,  N.  Clifford  Ricker,  and  Thomas  J.  Burrill; 
Closing  Remarks:     The  President  of  the  University. 
Music:     Auld  Lang  Syne. 
Benediction:     The  Reverend  Professor  Charles  M.  Moss. 


THE  OLD-TIME  FACULTY  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 

Arthur  N.  Talbot,  C.E.,  Class  of  1881 
Professor  in  the  University  of  Illinois 

It  would  be  difficult  for  one  who  sees  the  Universitv  of  Illinois 
today  for  the  first  time,  with  its  spacious  buildings,  its  extensive 
equipment,  its  long  list  of  students,  and  its  numerous  and  varied 
interests  and  activities,  to  conceive  of  the  institution  as  it  existed 
twenty-five  and  thirty  years  ago.  With  one  principal  building,  barely 
four  hundred  students,  less  than  a  score  in  the  instructional  force,  and 
limited  and  inadequate  financial  support,  the  contrast  with  present 
conditions  is  striking.  And  yet  there  was  a  personality,  a  purpose,  a 
promise,  a  character  that  attracted  attention  and  commanded  respect, 
and  there  were  elements  of  virility  and  strength,  of  individuality  and 
freshness  that  made  for  the  development  of  manhood  and  character 
in  its  students.  The  newness  of  its  plans,  the  very  freshness  of  its 
methods  appealed  to  the  student  body.  The  freedom  permitted  in 
the  choice  of  studies  was  even  greater  than  that  allowed  at  the  present 
day.  The  variety  of  courses  of  study  offered  and  the  extent  and 
variety  of  the  equipment  of  the  school  seemed  quite  wonderful  to 

(514) 


205 

students  of  neighboring  colleges.  Although  the  scholarship  require- 
ments for  admission  were  not  high,  it  must  be  remembered  that  the 
high  schools  of  the  State  had  not  generally  risen  to  their  present  grade 
and  that  it  was  a  public  duty  to  fit  the  educational  requirements  to 
the  conditions  of  the  time.  A  new  type  of  education,  a  revolt  from 
the  old-time  cast-iron  classical  curriculum,  the  introduction  of  labora- 
tory methods,  the  appearance  of  "useful"  studies  as  well  as  of  culture 
subjects,  the  attempts  to  dignify  labor  and  the  starting  of  courses  in 
technology',  the  very  name  Illinois  Industrial  University  (a  name 
which  imfortunately  was  misunderstood  and  did  not  convey  the  high 
pvirpose  intended), — these  gave  an  individuality  to  the  institution. 
If  to  these  be  added  the  enthusiasm  for  study  and  a  reputation  for 
earnest  steady  work  in  the  student  body,  a  general  feeling  among  the 
Faculty  that  thoroughness  and  efficiency  in  instruction  were  essential, 
and  a  deep  feeling  that  provision  for  higher  education  by  the  State 
entailed  a  duty  upon  the  recipients  to  make  good  in  citizenship  and  in 
loyalty  to  the  interests  of  the  commonwealth,  we  may  trace  something 
of  the  characteristics  which  apply  to  the  institution  of  the  present 
day. 

It  was  the  reputation  along  some  of  these  lines  which  attracted 
many  of  the  students.  The  feature  of  compulsory  student  labor  had 
early  been  discarded,  but  instruction  in  the  shops  was  being  developed, 
the  earhest  of  its  sort  in  the  United  States.  The  laboratories  were 
prominent  in  the  interests  of  the  institution.  The  military  organiza- 
tion and  the  daily  chapel  convocation  with  its  military  arrangements 
were  noteworthy  features.  But  beyond  the  buildings  and  equipment 
and  above  the  methods  and  plans,  that  which  most  impressed  the 
student  and  to  him  gave  character  to  the  University  was  the  personal- 
ity of  the  Faculty.  To  the  student  of  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago  it 
was  the  professors  who  constituted  the  University  of  Illinois.  And 
this  opportunity  is  here  given  to  express  an  appreciation  of  the  ser- 
vices of  the  men  whom  I  knew  in  the  early  days. 

It  was  nearly  a  decade  after  the  opening  of  the  Illinois  Industrial 
University  when  I  entered  the  institution.  Of  course  the  most  promi- 
nent name  was  the  first  President,  or  Regent  as  the  officer  was  then 
termed,  John  Milton  Gregory.  The  halls  were  full  of  tradition  of  his 
oratory,  of  his  wonderful  ability,  of  the  inspiration  of  his  teachings 
and  the  vigor  and  keenness  of  his  intellect.  It  was  not  my  good 
fortime  to  have  advanced  far  enough  to  enter  his  classes,  but  the 
reports  of  his  teaching  were  enthusiastically  commendatory.  His 
strongest  efforts  lay  in  his  chapel  talks  and  public  addresses.  His 
interpretation  of  current  thought  and  of  the  trend  of  events  in  history, 
sociology- ,  and  government,  his  exposition  of  conduct  and  character 
and  his  inspiration  to  high  ideals  in  ambition  and  citizenship  were 
helpful,  inspiring,  and  character-developing.     In  fact  it  may  be  said 

(515) 


206 

that  one  of  the  greatest  accomplishments  of  his  life  was  the  stimulus, 
the  imprint,  the  impulse  given  to  the  graduates  of  that  early  day,  and 
this  influence  is  yet  apparent  wherever  those  men  may  be  found. 

In  educational  lines  he  was  a  pioneer  and  a  seer.  Brought  to  the 
head  of  a  new  institution  to  develop  and  put  into  effect  new  methods, 
departures  from  the  beaten  path,  his  was  both  an  opportunity  and  a 
responsibility.  The  lines  of  industrial  education  were  to  be  developed, 
— in  agriculture,  in  mechanic  arts,  in  technology.  Laboratories  and 
laboratory  methods  were  to  be  employed.  Without  discarding  what 
was  valuable  in  classical  education,  he  outlined  new  courses  and  pro- 
vided instruction  which  has  since  been  accepted  bv  the  most  conserva- 
tive colleges  of  the  country.  His  papers  and  reports  on  the  educational 
plan  and  policy  of  the  young  university  show  an  insight,  a  wisdom,  and 
a  broad-minded  and  intelligent  conception  of  the  possibilities  of 
state  universities,  particularly  along  industrial,  technical,  and  general 
lines.  Surely  it  was  a  master  hand  that  guided  the  University  in 
the  thirteen  years  from  1867  to  1880,  and  the  imprint  that  he  made 
will  be  visible  as  long  as  the  University  of  Illinois  exists. 

But  large  as  should  be  the  credit  given  to  the  head  of  the  institu- 
tion, there  were  others  who  rendered  distinguished  service  to  the 
University  throughout  its  developmental  stage.  The  conditions  of 
its  growth  gave  the  Faculty  of  the  institution  peculiar  opportunities 
for  impressing  their  personality  upon  the  student  body  and  for  mould- 
ing the  form  and  fixing  the  trend  of  the  school  which  was  to  be  unlike 
the  college  of  the  past.  Not  only  did  the  smallness  of  the  number  of 
students  make  conditions  such  that  the  students  became  acquainted 
with  each  other  through  and  through,  so  that  there  was  no  chance  for 
pretense  or  false  distinctions,  but  the  opportunity  was  had  and  given 
for  the  student  to  come  in  contact  with  the  professors  and  to  learn 
to  know  them.  This  acquaintance  and  association  was  highly  esteemed 
by  the  students,  and  its  influence  was  an  important  element  of  their 
education. 

One  of  the  earliest  of  the  names  on  the  roll  of  the  Faculty  and 
one  long  in  the  service  of  the  University  is  that  of  Edward 
Snyder,  professor  of  modern  languages,  for  many  years  colonel  in 
charge  of  the  military  battalion,  always  known  as  the  friend  of  the 
student.  Throughout  his  twenty-six  years  of  service  to  the  Univer- 
sity, his  characteristic  was  his  absorbing  interest  in  the  welfare  of  the 
student,  and  the  pathway  of  many  a  student  was  smoothed  and  his 
courage  renewed  by  the  kindly  attention  of  Professor  Snyder.  He 
was  a  friendly  soul,  and  his  helping  hand  and  sympathetic  heart  were 
of  even  more  service  than  was  his  work  in  the  class  room.  His  un- 
swerving interest  in  student  life  is  attested  by  his  act  in  leaving  the 
savings  of  a  life  time  to  the  University  for  a  student's  aid  fund  to  be 
loaned  to  worthy  students  to  enable  them  to  finish  their  courses  in 

(516) 


207 

the  University.  His  death  occurred  in  1903.  His  memory  will  ever 
be  revered  by  all  students  of  his  time. 

The  student  of  the  long  ago  always  turns  pleasantly  to  the  name  of 
the  Professor  of  Mathematics  and  Business  Manager  of  the  University, 
Samuel  Walker  Shattuck.  His  friendly  greeting,  his  gentlemanliness 
and  courtesy,  the  elegant  carriage  of  his  military  bearing  were  lessons 
in  themselves.  Those  who  had  the  privilege  of  knowing  him  more 
closely,  in  the  class  room  and  in  the  home,  gladly  do  honor  to  him  as  a 
teacher  and  friend.  In  continuous  service  since  September,  1868, 
serving  as  head  of  the  military  department,  as  professor  of  civil  engi- 
neering, as  professor  of  mathematics,  as  Vice-President  of  the  Univer- 
sity, and  as  Regent  pro  tempore,  his  duties  have  been  varied  and  many, 
but  probably  his  greatest  service  has  been  in  the  management  of  the 
business  affairs  of  the  University.  His  uprightness  and  probity,  his 
business  sagacity  and  prudence,  his  loyal  and  firm  control  of  affairs 
have  contributed  largely  to  the  confidence  placed  in  the  University 
by  the  State.  Changes  in  politics  and  political  parties,  in  the  govern- 
ing Board  of  Trustees,  and  in  the  executive  head  of  the  University 
have  not  changed  this  controlling  hand  of  the  exchequer.  No  taint 
of  wrong  or  charge  of  graft  could  ever  be  made  against  this  office,  and 
it  is  undoubtedly  true  that  the  model  condition  of  the  books  and 
accounts  of  the  business  office  from  the  beginning  of  its  history,  shown 
in  the  investigation  made  in  all  state  institutions  when  a  new  political 
party  took  control  of  the  State  government  in  1893,  was  a  potent 
influence  in  securing  aid  from  the  State  administration  for  the  larger 
appropriations,  and  that  when  the  University  suffered  from  the  de- 
falcation of  a  treasurer  the  State  Legislature  had  full  confidence  in  the 
internal  administration  of  the  Universit^-'s  finances  and  increased  the 
appropriations.  It  is  no  small  task  to  handle  the  business  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Illinois  today,  and  thirty  years  ago  the  work,  though  smaller 
in  magnitude,  was  no  less  perplexing.  The  University  owes  Professor 
Shattuck  a  debt  of  gratitude  for  the  fidelity  and  sagacity  with  which 
he  has  discharged  this  trust. 

To  us  in  other  lines  came  reports  of  the  inspiring  teaching  of  a 
man  of  science,  who  has  since  had  a  leading  part  in  the  affairs  of  the 
University,  Thomas  Jonathan  Burrill,  professor  of  botany.  The 
enthusiasm  he  generated,  the  spirit  of  delight  in  scientific  study,  the 
joyous  pleasure  in  investigation,  seemed  contagious.  He  was  perhaps 
the  earliest  of  the  men  of  Illinois  to  become  noted  as  an  investigator 
in  science,  and  his  early  work  in  bacteriology  was  noteworthy.  Who 
shall  measure  the  sacrifice  which  he  made  in  giving  up  his  research 
work  when  it  was  white  with  the  harvest  for  his  hands  alone  and  in 
accepting  the  duty  of  the  hour  by  taking  up  the  work  of  the  retiring 
President  ?  He  had  filled  the  position  of  Vice-President,  and  he  under- 
took the   duties   and   responsibilities   of  Acting-President   and   soon 

(517) 


208 

generated  the  same  enthusiasm  and  dehght  in  the  student  body,  the 
same  spirit  of  vigor  and  Hfe  in  university  affairs,  the  same  confidence 
and  hopefulness  in  the  pubhc  mind  that  had  characterized  the  class 
room.  Led  by  his  guiding  hand  and  inspired  by  his  genius,  the 
University  bounded  forward  and  started  on  its  era  of  expansion. 
The  three  years  of  his  administration  (1891-94)  were  fruitful  years. 
Growth  in  number  of  students  and  Faculty,  increase  in  legislative 
appropriations,  a  new  era  in  building  operations,  healthful  student 
life,  higher  ideals  of  university  work,  the  extension  of  the  influence 
and  name  of  the  school,  characterized  this  period.  The  institution 
was  changing  from  a  college  to  a  university.  The  results  of  his  ener- 
getic and  wise  administration  were  apparent  everywhere.  When  he 
turned  over  his  trust  to  the  incoming  president,  all  the  conditions 
were  auspicious  for  the  continued  development  and  expansion  which 
time  and  wise  and  able  administration  have  since  brought  about.  The 
University  owes  much  to  Dr.  Burrill  for  his  able  and  efficient  work. 
The  alumni  voiced  their  appreciation  of  his  efficiency  and  loyalty  and 
all  friends  of  the  University  recognized  the  great  service  he  had  ren- 
dered. Later  years  have  brought  other  valuable  service,  as  Vice- 
President,  as  Dean  of  the  Graduate  School,  and  in  various  other 
capacities,  until  the  measure  of  his  accomplishment  is  overfull. 
Longest  in  point  of  service,  having  served  continuously  since  the  spring 
of  1868,  full  honor  should  be  accorded  to  this  beloved  servant  of  Illi- 
nois. 

It  has  been  said  that  Illinois  has  been  fortunate  in  the  devotion  of 
some  of  its  alumni  teachers.  From  the  first  class,  the  Class  of  '72, 
Nathan  Clifford  Ricker,  chosen  instructor  in  architecture  in  1873 
after  a  period  of  study  in  Europe,  and  appointed  professor  of  archi- 
tecture in  1877,  is  a  conspicuous  example.  Athough  instructing 
unaided  for  the  first  seventeen  years,  he  built  up  the  architectural  de- 
partment of  the  University  and  made  it  early  recognized  as  one  of  the 
principal  schools  of  architecture  in  the  country.  In  addition  to  this 
he  carried  the  duties  of  Dean  of  the  College  of  Engineering  from  1878 
until  he  gave  them  up  the  past  summer.  Modest  and  unassuming, 
industrious  and  painstaking,  well  informed  and  broad  minded,  he  has 
held  the  esteem  and  love  of  his  students  to  a  marked  degree.  To  his 
credit  should  be  placed  the  introduction  in  1873  of  the  Russian  system 
of  shop  practice  into  the  curriculum  of  the  University,  the  first  use  it 
was  given  in  a  technical  school  in  this  country,  though  now  almost 
universal.  His  writings  too  are  numerous  and  noteworthy.  Several 
bmldings  on  the  campus  are  the  proof  of  his  handiwork,  and  his  influ- 
ence upon  the  architecture  of  the  State  and  upon  the  standing  of  the 
architectural  profession  has  been  beneficial.  His  ability  and  authority 
in  architectural  matters  are  quite  generally  recognized.  He  has 
worked  diligently  for  the  interests  of  the  College  of  Engineering  and 

(518) 


209 

the  University,  and  the  results  of  his  labors  are  everywhere  apparent. 
In  the  history  of  the  institution,  the  name  of  Professor  Ricker  must 
ever  have  a  prominent  place. 

No  student  of  his  time  would  fail  to  mention  the  services  of  Selim 
H.  Peabody.  As  a  teacher  of  physical  science  his  work  was  note- 
worthy. It  was  however  as  President  for  eleven  years,  from  1880  to 
1891,  that  he  claims  distinction.  Placed  at  the  head  of  affairs  when 
the  University  was  in  financial  straits  and  when  public  opinion  and 
legislative  views  were  not  favorable  to  public  aid  for  higher  education, 
he  secured  at  the  first  session  of  the  Legislature  the  first  state  appropri- 
ation for  operating  expenses,  an  item  which  has  been  included  in  every 
appropriation  since,  and  which  has  grown  to  large  proportions,  saw  the 
income  of  the  University  constantly  increase  and  new  buildings 
erected,  and  aided  in  changing  the  name  from  Illinois  Industrial 
University  to  the  University  of  Illinois,  and  in  starting  the  Agricul- 
tural Experiment  Station.  During  this  period  the  University  was 
put  on  a  better  footing  in  educational  standards,  in  business  and 
administrative  methods,  and  in  its  relations  with  the  school  system 
of  the  State,  and  the  University  passed  through  the  second  stage  of  its 
development.  The  part  taken  by  Dr.  Peabody  through  this  period 
of  educational  and  industrial  depression  should  be  recognized  as  dififi- 
cult  and  trying.  Dr.  Peabody  was  a  man  of  high  character,  scholarly 
attainments,  and  unusual  versatility,  a  prodigious  worker,  an  efficient 
administrator,  and  an  educator  of  recognized  standing.  His  name 
must  stand  as  one  of  the  strong  men  of  our  University  history. 

Time  will  not  permit  a  record  of  the  work  of  others  whose  services 
deserve  recognition, — of  George  E.  Morrow,  that  pioneer  of  agricul- 
tural education;  of  Stillman  W.  Robinson,  whose  footprints  are  still 
everywhere  visible  in  mechanical  engineering;  of  Joseph  C.  Pickard, 
beloved  teacher  of  English  literature;  of  Don  Carlos  Taft,  instructor 
in  geology  and  morals;  of  Miss  Lou  C.  Allen,  now  Mrs.  J.  M.  Gregory, 
first  teacher  of  hou.sehold  science,  and  whom  the  women  of  Illinois 
might  well  select  as  their  patron  saint;  of  Ira  O.  Baker,  then 
yotmg  instructor  in  civil  engineering,  whose  rare  instructional  methods 
and  educational  ideas  are  now  known  and  have  made  the  University 
of  Illinois  known  wherever  engineering  science  is  taught, — the  work  of 
these  and  others  deserves  much  fuller  recognition  than  can  be  given 
here. 

I  have  mentioned  some  of  those  I  knew  in  my  student  days, 
though  I  have  done  scant  justice  to  their  deeds.  They  may  not  have 
built  great  bridges,  or  erected  tall  buildings,  or  managed  great  indus- 
trial operations,  or  governed  a  state,  but  they  have  sent  out  pupils 
who  have  done  and  are  doing  the  world's  great  work  for  them,  and 
they  may  justly  accept  the  work  of  these  hands  somewhat  as  their 
accomplishments.     Surely  the  results  of  their  efforts  are  written  on 

(519) 


210 

the  heart  and  Hves  and  work  of  their  students  and  on  the  form  and 
texture  and  life  of  this  great  University  they  helped  to  build.  The 
historian  of  the  University  of  Illinois  will  record  their  accomplishments. 
Today  let  us  recognize  their  worth  and  do  honor  to  these  men  who 
have  rendered  such  distinguished  service  to  the  University  of  Illinois. 


ADDRESS 

Honorable  Henry  M.  Beardsley,  Class  of  1879 
Attorney,  Kansas  City 

This  great  University,  with  its  history  and  its  present  equipment, 
has  not  come  by  chance.  It  had  its  beginning  in  an  epoch-making 
time.  It  had  then,  and  has  had  from  that  time  until  this,  the  thought 
and  service  of  men  of  unusual  ability. 

About  the  middle  of  the  last  century  the  movement  began  for  the 
bringing  of  higher  education  to  those  engaged  in  agriculture  and  the 
mechanic  industries.  Looking  back  to  those  times,  in  the  light  of 
what  has  come  since,  the  men  who  were  then  the  leaders  stand  forth 
like  prophets.  Foremost  among  them  was  Professor  Jonathan  B. 
Turner  of  Illinois  College.  For  years  he  went  back  and  forth  across 
this  prairie  State  proclaiming  everywhere  the  necessity  of  the  new 
teaching.  At  state  fairs,  at  the  meetings  of  educational  bodies  of 
every  character,  and  among  men  in  business  life,  wherever  he  could 
get  a  hearing,  he  was  there  to  proclaim  his  cause.  As  the  years  went 
by,  the  circle  of  those  who  understood  grew  larger  and  larger,  until  at 
last  Congress  passed  the  act  which  made  possible  these  great  state 
universities,  granting  an  endowment  out  of  the  public  domain  for 
them.  Quickly  following,  the  Legislature  of  this  State  passed  the 
necessary  legislation,  giving  life  to  this  University. 

On  that  day  in  March,  1868,  when  its  doors  were  opened,  there 
was  present,  taking  part  in  the  exercises  of  the  day,  Dr.  Newton 
Bateman,  then  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction  of  the  State,  a 
man  thoroughly  in  sympathy  with  the  new  movement.  To  Dr. 
Bateman,  standing  there,  looking  back  into  the  past  and  reviewing  the 
work  that  had  been  done,  looking  out  into  the  future  and  giving  voice 
to  the  hope  that  was  cherished  by  all,  Professor  Turner  seemed  a  great 
leader  in  the  movement,  and  he  so  proclaimed  him.  It  was  not  a 
narrow  idea  which  had  been  his, — not  simply  the  bringing  to  the 
farmer  and  the  mechanic  opportunity  for  education  in  his  calling,  for 
this  would  not,  in  his  mind,  of  necessity  have  elevated  the  man.  It 
was  his  idea  that  the  university  so  founded  should  be  broad  and 
liberal  in  its  teachings,  recognizing  the  needs  of  all  the  manhood  and 
womanhood  of  the  State,  bringing  education  and  culture  into  every 
walk  of  life. 

(520)    ' 


211 

The  years  passed  by,  and  we  were  met  in  the  drill-hall  yonder  to 
celebrate  the  twenty-fifth  anniversary  of  the  founding  of  this  institu- 
tion. There  were  .gathered  here  a  great  concourse  of  people. 
Professor  Turner  had  grown  old  and  blind.  The  paper  that  he  had 
prepared  for  the  occasion  was  to  be  read  by  his  daughter,  then  a 
member  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  University.  But,  first,  he 
himself  was  asked  to  stand,  that  he  might  be  introduced  to  that  proud 
audience.  Near  him  at  the  time  sat  Dr.  Gregory,  the  first  President 
of  this  institution.  His  own  thought  of  the  past  and  the  great  present 
so  over-mastered  him  that  he  arose  in  his  place — those  of  you  who 
were  here  will  remember  it  well — and  looking  out  over  the  audience 
exclaimed,  "Look  at  him!  Look  at  him!  You  will  not  see  his  like 
again." 

One  of  the  first  acts  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  called  together  at 
Springfield,  Illinois,  in  the  early  part  of  the  year  1867,  was  the  selection 
of  a  President,  then  named  Regent,  of  the  University.  It  required 
but  a  short  time  to  select  the  man,  and  Dr.  John  M.  Gregory  was 
chosen.  He  had  been  educated  as  a  lawyer,  ordained  as  a  minister; 
he  had  been  a  public  educator,  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction 
of  the  great  state  of  Michigan,  and  president  of  one  of  its  colleges. 
He  was  thoroughly  in  sympathy  with  the  new  idea.  One  of  the  first 
productions  of  his  pen  any  curious  student  may  find  in  the  first  annual 
report  of  the  University,  that  of  1868.  It  was  the  report  of  the  com- 
mittee of  which  he  was  chairman,  named  to  outline  a  course  of  study. 
Step  bv  step  a  plan  for  the  future  was  laid  down,  a  plan  which  through 
the  years  since  has  been  followed,  only  amplified  and  completed. 
And  at  the  last,  this  report  upon  the  college  curriculum  ended  with  an 
out-pouring  of  eloquent  words  like  the  closing  words  of  some  great 
oration.  The  writer  could  see  through  the  years  to  come  added 
dignitv  to  agricultural  and  mechanical  industry.  To  him  there  was 
being  lighted  a  new  light  which  should  shine  into  the  homes  of  all  the 
people.  And  standing  here  today  we  must  declare  his  words  truly 
prophetic  of  the  present  and  of  our  hope  for  the  future.  The  work  of 
the  world  must  be  carried  on.  It  is  not  the  province  of  education  to 
lead  men  away  from  that  work  which  lies  at  the  very  foundation  of  all 
progress.  It  must  be  increasingly  true  that  men  must  find  in  this 
labor  dignity  and  joy.  It  must  be  true,  as  declared  by  the  great 
professor  of  constitutional  law  of  the  University  of  Switzerland,  that 
in  this  life  men  ought  to  expect  no  higher  happiness  than  that  which 
comes  from  work  well  done. 

And  so  he  came,  the  first  President,  one  of  the  great  men  of  his  day. 
How  he  moved  among  us,  we  of  the  older  day  know  full  well.  We 
may  forget  the  lessons  of  the  class  room,  the  facts  of  science  which 
were  taught  us,  the  rules  and  theorems  of  higher  mathematics,  the 
intricacies  of  logic  and  philosophy;  but  the  higher  ideals  in  fife,  the 

(521) 


212 

value  of  character  in  every  enterprise,  the  elements  which  enter  into 
and  serve  to  make  the  highest  type  of  manhood, — these  things  which 
were  taught  by  him  can  never  be  forgotten.  The  University  may 
multiply  the  number  of  its  students,  may  increase  the  number  and 
magnificence  of  its  buildings,  and  as  well  all  its  material  equipment, 
may  broaden  its  curriculum  and  increase  the  facilities  of  education — 
and  of  these  things  we  shall  always  be  proud — but  unless  at  the  basis 
of  things,  through  all  the  years,  there  shall  lie  the  great  principles  of 
his  teaching,  the  University  will  not  accomplish  fully  the  work  it  is 
set  to  accomplish.  The  need  of  the  state  is  for  the  light  which  educa- 
tion brings  into  every  walk  and  avenue  of  life.  But  most  of  all  and 
always,  she  needs  men  and  women;  for  the  type  of  her  social  life  and 
character,  of  her  social  existence,  and  even  of  her  commercial  and 
industrial  life,  depends  upon  the  underlying  character  of  her  men  and 
women,  their  views,  beliefs  and  ideals. 

He  was  one  of  those  great  men,  calmly  confident  of  a  high  and 
noble  mission.  He  spoke  as  he  did,  like  the  prophets  of  old,  because 
the  truth  demanded  of  him  expression.  I  remember  well  toward  the 
close  of  his  life,  sitting  one  summer  afternoon  talking  with  him. 
Those  who  were  acquainted  with  him  and  heard  him  often  know  that 
there  were  few  men  of  his  time  his  equal  as  a  platform  speaker.  Refer- 
ring to  the  fact  that  there  was  great  demand  for  public  lecturers,  he  said 
that  he  had  often  been  asked  by  those  in  charge  of  lecture  courses  for 
permission  to  place  him  in  lyceum  series  for  addresses  in  different 
parts  of  the  country,  but  he  said,  "Thinking  of  the  hundreds  of  boys 
and  girls  who  had  passed  through  the  University  when  I  was  with 
them,  and  of  the  ideals  I  had  tried  to  lift  up  before  them,  I  could  not 
consent  that  they  should  think  of  me  as  using  what  ability  I  had  in 
this  direction  merely  for  pay."  So  through  all  the  years  of  his  life 
until  the  last,  his  intellect  and  his  voice  were  at  the  service  of  those 
whom  he  felt  he  could  best  serve. 

At  the  beginning  he  laid  down  the  lines  along  which  the  life  of  the 
University  ought  to  develop.  His  thought  was  far-reaching,  his 
ideas  were  broad  and  progressive.  They  were  to  include  here  teaching 
in  mechanic  and  industrial  arts,  teaching  in  literature  and  in  the  higher 
and  fine  arts.  The  whole  field,  and  every  part  of  it,  was  to  be  within 
the  reach  of  those  who  came  here  as  students.  He  was  misunderstood 
at  the  first;  he  was  opposed,  and  bitterly  opposed,  but  with  firm  faith 
and  great  courage  he  held  to  his  own  ideals,  and  the  triumph  of  the 
University  is  in  large  part  the  triumph  of  his  work. 

He  was  to  us  of  those  days,  not  alone  the  teacher,  but  the  seer  and 
prophet.  Through  his  teachings  we  saw  the  things  of  life  in  their 
right  relationship  to  each  other.  What  was  left,  after  his  soul  had 
taken  its  departure  from  the  body,  was  placed  yonder  by  the  main 
building  beneath  a  simple  mound.     As  Tom  Brown  sat  there  at  Rugby 

(522) 


213 

that  summer  afternoon,  with  the  Ught  steahng  through  the  painted 
windows,  casting  its  color  against  the  wall,  himself  leaning  over  the 
marble  slab  where  they  had  buried  the  great  teacher,  Arnold,  his  heart 
overflowing,  so  we  come  and  stand  by  Dr.  Gregory's  grave. 

The  davs  of  the  laying  of  the  foundations  passed.  Dr.  Peabody 
organized  and  established  the  work  begun.  The  State  grew  in  wealth 
and  power.  Her  commerce  and  her  industries  multiplied.  She 
needed  a  great  university.  There  came,  in  the  fullness  of  time,  a 
man  fitted  for  this  task.  Andrew  S.  Draper  was  not  only  a  trained 
educator;  he  understood  public  afifairs.  He  knew  how  to  appeal  to 
the  legislators  and  to  the  pride  and  ambition  of  the  citizenship  of  the 
State.  No  labor  was  for  him  too  great ;  no  part  of  his  task  so  difficult, 
but  that  by  skill  and  patience  and  with  argument  and  appeal,  he  would 
win  his  way.  Funds  necessary  for  greater  things  were  granted.  The 
student  body  grew;  the  Faculty  and  teaching  force  multipHed,  and 
within  a  few  short  vears  the  University  of  Illinois  had  come  to  be  one 
of  the  chief  educational  institutions  of  our  nation.  Turn  away  for  a 
moment,  if  we  can,  from  all  these  things  that  are  about  us  today,  and 
think  of  the  conditions  here  a  dozen  years  ago.  Only  so  can  we  com- 
prehend the  changes  which  have  taken  place.  The  present  is  so  fixed 
and  certain,  we  easily  forget  how  it  was  won. 

To  those  who  were  of  the  student  body  in  those  days  of  marvelous 
growth,  and  many  more  of  us  who  were  not,  Dr.  Draper  was  more 
than  the  college  president.  His  sympathies  were  broad,  and  he  took 
interest  in  individual  men.  He  came  out  from  the  university  life  from 
time  to  time  into  the  meetings  of  alumni,  bringing  with  him  the 
enthusiasm  and  hope  of  the  larger  university  life.  He  let  us  into  the 
secrets  of  the  larger  things  to  come, — already  planned  for ;  and  with  all 
he  won  our  hearts.  We  too  knew  when  his  affliction  came — knew  of 
the  unflinching  courgae  with  which  he  met  it,  and  felt  him  to  be  not  only 
a  wise  president,  a  sincere  friend,  but  as  well,  one  of  God's  brave  men. 

The  work  which  Dr.  Gregory  began  and  Dr.  Draper  carried  on  so 
well,  has  fallen  now  into  other  hands.  We  cannot  doubt  that  there 
shall  come  here,  without  loss  of  moral  fibre  or  firm  administrative 
grip,  that  riper  and  richer  scholarship  which  to  the  coming  years  is 
possible.  These  men  who  have  wrought  at  the  head  of  affairs  have 
not  worked  alone.  The  University  of  lUinois  could  not  have  come  to 
be  what  she  is  without  these  others.  There  are  two  or  three  here  who 
have  had  a  chief  part  in  this  work  from  the  beginning. 

There  is  one  in  whose  person  the  memories  of  the  University  life 
more  center  than  in  any  other.  He  used  to  teach  of  trees  and  flowers 
and  bugs.  We  always  felt  his  heart  was  close  to  nature's  heart — 
yes,  and  close  as  well  to  the  great  beating  heart  of  student  life.  It 
wovdd  not  be  at  all  Hke  coming  back  to  Alma  Mater  if  Dr.  Burrill  were 
not  here.     One  can  scarcely  believe  the  years  have  come  and  gone  as 

(523) 


214 

they  have  when  one  looks  into  his  face  and  hears  his  greeting.  He 
came  out  among  us  of  the  old  boys  and  girls  of  the  South  West 
last  year.  His  coming  was  like  the  coming  of  the  south  winds  in  the 
spring-time.  Instead  of  the  odors  of  grasses  and  flowers,  he  brought 
memories  of  the  old  days  so  mingled  with  the  new  that  we  felt  our- 
selves not  greyheaded  men  and  women,  but  boys  and  girls  again.  He 
had  us  shouting  college  yells  we  had  never  known  before.  He  was  the 
same  Professor  Burrill  as  of  old;  only  more  so.  He  had  known  only  a 
few  boys  and  girls  in  our  time — the  old  days — he  had  known  thousands 
since.     He  was  fresher  and  kindlier  for  it  all. 

We  knew,  too,  of  the  things  he  had  done.  Of  his  discoveries  in 
his  own  profession  of  which  the  scientific  world  knew.  We  knew,  too, 
that  through  all  the  years  of  the  life  of  the  University,  it  was  he  who 
stepped  forward  to  take  command  when  the  chief  commander's  place 
was  vacant;  filled  the  place  with  dignity  and  grace,  and  then  stepped 
back  into  his  old  place  as  the  new  commander  came.  May  he  be 
spared  for  many  years  to  come,  linking  the  old  with  the  new,  beloved 
of  the  alumni  from  1872  down  into  the  years  of  the  century  just  begun. 

I  saw  today  another,  familiar  to  all  who  have  been  here,  even  from 
the  beginning.  His  hair  is  whiter  than  of  old,  but  his  form  is  still 
erect,  and  he  moves  among  the  college  men  and  women  commanding 
respect  by  the  complete,  exact  fulfillment  at  all  time  of  his  duty.  In 
the  class  room  and  in  all  public  places  he  has  insisted  upon  courteous 
and  kindly  conduct,  and  has  himself  always  exemplified  it.  Profes- 
sor Shattuck  has  been,  as  well,  a  balance  wheel  in  the  conduct  of  the 
business  affairs  of  the  University.  In  these  times  when  we  are  priv- 
ileged to  speak  of  those  to  whom  the  University  owes  much,  we  must 
place  him  among  the  foremost. 

There  is  another  who  stands  between  us  of  the  alumni  and  those 
others  who  have  been  governors  and  teachers.  He  is  himself  of  us, 
among  the  earliest  of  the  student  body,  first  to  step  from  that  rank 
into  the  ranks  of  the  teachers.  Master  of  his  own  calling,  he  has 
always  read  widely  in  other  fields.  It  has  been  gratifying  to  the 
student,  in  whatever  college  or  department  he  mav  be  carrying 
forward  his  study,  to  find  in  him  companionship  and  a  fund  of  infor- 
mation. He  knew  where  further  light  could  be  had;  knew  always 
some  advantage  in  understanding  to  be  gained  by  side  lights  found  in 
some  other  field  of  learning.  In  the  college  over  which  he  has  for 
years  presided  as  dean.  Professor  Ricker  has  the  respect  of  his  col- 
leagues. He  has  had  the  affectionate  regard  and  admiration  of  the 
University  students  from  year  to  year.  We  of  the  alumni  dehght  to 
find  him  still  here.  He  has  laid  many  stones  in  the  structures  being 
here  erected.  He  is  now  and  shall  be  as  long  as  he  remains  at  his  post, 
accounted  among  the  chief  of  those  who  have  guided  and  controlled, 
pushed  forward  and  strengthened  the  University  of  Illinois. 

(524) 


215 

But  what  a  host  there  are  whose  names  we  could  speak,  and  who 
have  had  large  part  here.  We  would  love,  if  time  permitted,  to  pay 
our  tribute  to  those  who  from  time  to  time  have  constituted  our 
Board  of  Trustees;  giving  out  of  the  midst  of  the  cares  of  busy  lives 
a  generous  part  of  themselves  to  a  great  work  here  being  wrought  out ! 
Some  of  them  like  Bullard,  Hatch  and  Armstrong  bringing  to  the  task 
the  added  impetus  of  love  for  the  institution  which  had  nurtured 
them,  fine  enthusiastic  painstaking,  far-seeing  men  and  women  all  of 
them,  from  that  first  Board  who  held  up  their  hands  and  swore  they 
had  not  been  and  never  would  be  guilty  of  duelling,  down  to  those  who 
today  guide  affairs  and  of  whom  no  such  thing  has  been  even  sus- 
pected. 

And  what  shall  we  say  of  those  who  have  been  in  chief  power, 
those  who  have  held  under  their  control  the  sinews  of  war, — the 
executives  and  legislators  of  this  State  from  the  first  until  now  ?  There 
have  been  battles  fought  for  this  University  there  in  the  legislative 
halls  well  worth  recounting.  And  these  also,  governors,  senators  and 
representatives,  shall  have  their  place  in  our  memory,  and  in  our 
praise.  And  now  that  we  are  here  in  our  own  house,  may  we  not  name 
among  the  chief  of  them  Henry  Dunlap,  of  the  State  Senate,  of  Cham- 
paign County,  of  the  alumni,  of  Illinois — our  Henry! 

Again  I  see  those  who  have  labored  here  as  tutor  and  professor. 
Baker,  Taft,  Pickard,  Snyder,  Kinley,  Forbes,  Talbot,  Parr  and  all 
the  long  line  growing  stronger  in  numbers,  and  standing  without  loss 
of  zeal  and  devotion  as  the  years  have  passed.  These  men  have  been 
not  only  teachers,  fulfilling  the  task  paid  for,  they  have  been  as  well 
university  builders,  and  as  such  we  give  them  our  praise  today. 

And  these  are  not  all.  That  student  body  which  has  from  year  to 
year  gone  out  from  this  place  to  take  part  in  the  world's  work — they 
too  have  helped  to  create  and  to  maintain  a  university  sentiment. 
They  are  the  exponents  of  the  power  here  developed.  There  is  to 
them  no  choicer  task  than  to  come  here  this  day,  and  through  their 
representatives  express  the  debt  of  gratitude  they  owe,  and  again 
make  pledge  that  their  own  lives  shall,  in  so  far  as  in  them  lies,  bring 
honor  to  the  University  to  which  they  owe  so  much. 

Dear  Alma  Mater,  and  all  these  earnest,  noble  souls,  you  are  not, 
cannot  be  forgotten. 

"Still,  o'er  these  scenes  my  memory  wakes. 
And  fondly  broods  with  miser  care ; 
Time  but  the  impression  deeper  makes,- 
As  streams  their  channels  deeper  wear." 


(525) 


216 


ADDRESS 

The  Honorable  Emory  Cobb 
Former  Member  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  Kankakee 

During  my  summer  outing  in  the  Appalachian  Range  of  the  Alle- 
ghany Mountains,  in  old  Virginia,  at  an  old  colonial  hotel,  whose 
register  recorded  the  names  of  Washington,  Jefferson  and  Monroe, 
and  where  the  Chicago  Tribune  is  a  daily  visitor,  I  noticed  that  the 
installation  of  President  James  was  to  take  place  in  October.  I 
promised  myself  the  pleasure,  health  permitting,  of  being  in  attendance, 
not  expecting,  however,  to  take  any  part  in  the  exercises.  Upon  the 
urgent  solicitation  of  members  of  the  Faculty,  requesting  a  short 
paper  as  to  the  organization  and  early  history  of  the  University,  and 
more  especially  as  to  its  finances,  I  reluctantly  consented. 

As  to  its  organization,  it  was  founded  by  an  act  of  the  Legislature 
approved  February  28th,  1867.  which  provided  that  the  Governor 
should  appoint  five  trustees  from  each  of  the  three  grand  judicial 
districts  of  the  State,  one  from  each  of  the  thirteen  congres- 
sional districts,  and  that  the  Governor,  Superintendent  of  Public 
Instruction,  President  of  the  State  Board  of  Agriculture,  and  the 
Regent  elect,  (who  should  be  chairman  of  the  Board),  should  be  ex 
officio  members ;  making  a  total  membership  of  thirty-two  who  should 
be  a  body  corporate  and  have  its  management  and  control.  It  also 
provided  that  it  should  be  located  at  Urbana,  upon  conditions  men- 
tioned in  the  following  offer  made  by  Champaign  County : 

"The  undersigned  committee  appointed  by  the  Board  of  Super- 
visors of  Champaign  County  are  instructed  to  make  the  following 
offer  to  the  State  of  Illinois  in  consideration  of  the  permanent  location 
of  the  Illinois  Industrial  University  at  Urbana.  We  offer  the  Urbana 
and  Champaign  Institute  buildings  and  grounds  containing  about  ten 
acres ;  also  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  land  adjacent  thereto ;  also 
four  hundred  acres  of  land  being  part  of  Section  21,  Township  19, 
Range  9,  East;  also  four  hundred  and  ten  acres,  part  of  Section  19, 
Township  18,  Range  9,  East,  within  one  mile  of  the  buildings  herein 
offered ;  also  the  donation  offered  by  the  Illinois  Central  Railway 
company,  of  fift}^  thousand  dollars  worth  of  freight  over  said  road  for 
the  benefit  of  the  University;  also  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  in 
Champaign  County  bonds,  due  and  payable  in  ten  years  and  bearing 
interest  at  the  rate  of  ten  per  cent,  per  annum;  and  two  thou- 
sand dollars  in  fruit,  shade  and  ornamental  trees  and  shrubbery 
to  be  selected  from  the  nursery  of  M.  L.  Dunlap,  and  furnished  at  the 
lowest  catalog  rates,  making  an  estimated  valuation  of  four  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  dollars." 

The  members  met  at  Springfield  upon  the  Governor's  call  on  the 

(526) 


217 

twelfth  of  March  to  organize  and  take  tip  the  work.  In  passing,  it  may 
be  well  to  call  attention  to  the  composition  of  the  Board.  They  were 
from  all  parts  of  the  State,  for  the  most  part  unacquainted  with  each 
other.  ^lanv  were  in  the  sixties,  a  greater  number  in  the  fifties,  some 
in  the  forties  and  two  or  three  in  the  thirties.  Sixteen  of  them  were 
farmers,  most  of  them  horticulturists,  one  was  a  manufacturer,  three 
were  lawyers,  three  school  superintendents,  two  college  presidents, 
one  clergyman,  one  physician,  one  merchant,  one  architect,  two  rail- 
road presidents,  one  the  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction,  and  the 
Regent. 

As  just  stated  the  members  were  comparative  strangers,  the  writer 
being  acquainted  with  one  member  of  the  Board,  Mr.  M.  L.  Dunlap,  of 
Champaign.  The  meeting  was  called  to  order  by  Governor  Oglesby, 
who  acted  as  chairman,  and  proceeded  at  once  to  the  election  of  per- 
manent officers,  which  resulted  in  the  selection  of  Dr.  John  M.  Gregory, 
of  Michigan,  as  Regent.  He,  by  the  way,  was  known  personally  to 
but  two  or  three  members  of  the  Board.  W.  C.  Flagg  was  made  cor- 
responding secretary,  O.  B.  Galusha,  recording  secretary,  and  J.  W. 
Bunn,  treasurer. 

Two  committees  of  five  each  were  also  named,  one  on  the  course  of 
study  and  to  suggest  a  Faculty,  and  one  on  finances.  The  Board  then 
adjourned  to  meet  in  Urbana  on  the  first  Tuesday  of  May. 

At  the  time  appointed  the  Board  met  pursuant  to  adjournment, 
Dr.  Gregory  and  twenty-two  members  being  present.  At  this  session 
two  important  matters  came  under  consideration,  that  of  finances  and 
the  course  of  study. 

Our  finances  consisted  of  the  Champaign  County  bonds  and  the 
land  scrip  received  from  the  general  government  as  an  endowment, 
amounting  to  four  hundred  and  eighty  thousand  acres  of  government 
land,  which  according  to  the  enabling  act  of  the  State,  could  be  located 
or  sold  as  the  Board  might  direct.  Quite  a  number  of  the  older 
members  were  in  favor  of  selling  it  all  at  once  at  the  best  obtainable 
figures,  their  personal  experience  being  that  lands  which  they  had 
owned  and  were  conversant  with  at  that  time  sold  at  from  ten  to  fifteen 
dollars  per  acre,  and  that  lands  that  we  might  locate  in  Nebraska  or 
Minnesota  would  not  be  salable  for  many  years.  A  majority,  however, 
were  of  the  opinion  that  at  least  half  of  the  scrip  should  be  sold  at 
once  and  the  balance  held  for  future  consideration,  and  that  one  hun- 
dred thousand  acres  should  be  located  at  once.  A  respectable 
minority  begged  for  a  location  of  two  hundred  thousand  acres  at  least, 
contending  that  we  could  get  along  with  the  avails  of  two  hundred 
and  eighty  thousand  acres  well  invested,  with  the  Champaign  County 
bonds  as  a  reserve  fund. 

At  subsequent  meeting  the  demand  for  immediate  income  was  so 
great  that  four  hundred  and  fifty-five  thousand  acres  of  the  scrip  were 

(527) 


218 

sold  for  about  three  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  dollars,  and  twenty- 
five  thousand  acres  located  in  Nebraska  and  Minnesota. 

The  other  important  matter  that  came  up  was  the  report 
of  the  committee  on  the  course  of  study.  We  were  the  first  col- 
lege to  organize  under  the  Morrill  act,  which  provided  pri- 
marily that  such  branches  of  learning  should  be  taught  as 
related  to  agriculture  and  the  mechanic  arts,  not  excluding 
scientific  and  classical  studies  and  including  military  tactics.  We 
were  without  any  precedents  to  guide  us,  and  it  was  inevitable  that 
there  should  be  differences  of  opinion  as  how  to  best  carry  out  the 
provisions  of  the  act.  The  course  submitted  by  the  committee  with 
some  slight  modifications  was  adopted  with  a  strong  dissenting  minor- 
ity, including  some  members  who  had  been  active  in  the  passage  of 
the  act  by  the  Legislature  and  in  securing  the  donations  of  lands  and 
bonds  which  determined  its  location. 

This  action  of  the  Board  was  the  cause  of  severe  criticism  by 
many  throughout  the  State,  who  avowed  that  instead  of  teaching 
such  studies  as  the  act  called  for,  we  had  simply  set  in  motion  another 
old  fashioned  classical  college.  The  Northern  Horticultural  Society 
of  the  State,  several  members  of  which  organization  were  also  members 
of  our  Board,  passed  resolutions  to  that  effect,  and  the  State  Agri- 
cultural Board  was  also  dissatisfied  and  would  have  passed  similar 
resolutions  had  it  not  been  that  several  members  of  our  Board  were 
also  members  of  that  body  and  were  able  to  prevent  it.  All  of  the 
denominational  colleges  and  schools  in  the  State,  with  perhaps  one 
exception,  and  the  normal  school  were  anything  but  friendly.  The 
members  of  the  Legislature  were  more  or  less  prejudiced  against  us 
and  were  loath  to  grant  us  the  ordinary  assistance  provided  for  in  the 
act. 

As  our  college  building  was  inadequate,  the  Board  decided  to  ask 
of  the  General  Assembly  of  1870  and  1871  a  main  university  building, 
submitting  plans  and  specifications  with  an  estimated  cost  of  about 
one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars.  Seventy-five  thousand 
was  appropriated  to  commence  the  building  according  to  plans.  A 
large  majority  of  the  Board  construed  this-act  as  an  implied  agreement 
that  the  next  General  Assembly  would  appropriate  the  additional 
seventy-five  thousand  dollars,  or  so  much  thereof  as  might  be  needed  to 
finish  the  building. 

A  respectable  minority  were  opposed  to  incurring  an}-  indebtedness 
beyond  the  amount  actually  appropriated.  Bids  were,  however, 
called  for  and  contract  entered  into  for  the  construction  of  the  build- 
ing according  to  the  plans  and  specification,  and  the  seventy-five 
thousand  dollars  was  expended  on  the  building  during  the  summer 
and  autumn  of  1871,  leaving  it  about  half  completed. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  full  Board  in  March,  1872,  the  question  of 

(528) 


219 

finishing  the  building  by  selling  the  Champaign  County  bonds  for 
that  purpose  was  brought  up  and  rejected  on  the  ground  that  it  would 
be  more  easy  to  obtain  the  additional  appropriation  of  seventy-five 
thousand  dollars  from  the  Legislature  if  the  building  were  left  in  its 
incompleted  state. 

An  executive  meeting  was  called  for  May  twelfth  following  and  at 
that  meeting  steps  were  taken  to  complete  the  building  by  the  sale  of 
so  many  Champaign  County  bonds  as  might  be  necessary. 

The  Committee  appointed  by  the  Board  (the  Regent  acting  as 
chairman)  to  visit  Springfield  in  the  interest  of  the  University  at  the 
session  of  the  General  Assembly  in  1872  and  1873  made  prominent  in 
their  askings  the  refunding  by  the  State  of  the  amount  advanced 
to  finish  the  building,  about  sixty  thousand  dollars,  urging  it  on  the 
implied  promise  of  the  former  General  Assembly.  The  Senate  com- 
mittee refused  to  recognize  any  such  promise  and  a  disagreement 
finally  culminated  in  an  open  rupture  and  refusal  to  make  any  appro- 
priation whatever. 

At  this  juncture  (not  being  a  member  of  the  committee)  I  received 
a  telegram  from  a  friend  of  the  University  at  Springfield,  saying  that 
my  presence  was  needed  as  the  University  was  in  peril ;  also  another 
telegram  from  the  chairman  of  the  Senate  committee  requesting  my 
presence.  I  complied  with  their  request  and  upon  arrival  was  met 
by  the  chairman  of  the  Senate  committee,  and  catechized  in  regard  to 
what  he  conceived  to  be  irregularities  in  the  management  of  the 
University,  stating  that  as  matters  appeared  to  his  committee,  they 
would  be  unable  to  give  the  institution  any  assistance  whatever.  My 
reply  was  that  I  was  a  member  of  the  Board  and  as  such  held  myself 
responsible  for  the  acts  of  my  fellow  members,  and  refused  to  discuss 
in  detail  the  alleged  irregularities  but  stated  to  him  that  the  records 
of  the  Board,  the  University  being  a  State  institution,  were  public 
records  and  at  his  disposal,  and  that  he  could  probably  obtain  from 
them  all  the  information  he  desired.  I  also  told  him  that  it  would  be 
a  very  serious  matter  should  the  General  Assembly  refuse  to  assist  us. 
I  also  met  the  chairman  of  the  House  committee,  and  explained  as 
best  I  could  our  needs.  After  investigations  by  both  committees 
they  passed  the  Reorganization  act,  carrying  an  appropriation  of 
about  forty-five  thousand  dollars  for  completing  and  furnishing  the 
main  building;  and  fifteen  hundred  dollars  in  aid  of  the  experiments 
on  the  experimental  farm.  This  act  provided  for  a  reorganization  of 
the  Board,  stating  that  the  Governor  should  appoint  nine  trustees, 
three  from  each  grand  judicial  district  of  the  State,  who,  together  with 
the  Governor  and  the  president  of  the  State  Board  of  Agriculture,  for 
the  time  being,  were  to  constitute  the  Board  of  Trustees. 

The  new  Board  met  and  organized  on  July  10th,  1873,  Emory  Cobb, 
president;   Edward   Snyder,   corresponding   secretary;   J.    W.    Bunn, 

p29) 


220 

treasurer,  the  Governor  and  President  Reynolds  of  the  State  Agricul- 
tural Board  being  present.  During  the  winter  of  1872  and  1873,  our 
contractor,  Mr.  Gehlmann,  became  financially  embarassed  and  gave  up 
his  contract.  The  new  Board  took  up  the  work,  finished  and  furnished 
the  building  and  had  it  ready  for  the  winter  term,  our  Acting-Regent, 
Professor  Shattuck,  and  Professor  Snyder  rendering  valuable  assistance. 

At  the  first  meeting  of  the  new  Board  Mr.  Reynolds  offered  the 
following  resolutions,  which  were  adopted: 

"Resolved  that  a  compliance  with  the  spirit  of  the  law  of  Congress 
which  provides  for  the  establishment  of  agricultural  colleges  in  the 
several  states,  requires  that  this  institution  be  devoted,  as  a  leading 
object,  to  imparting  such  instruction  to  its  pupils  as  shall  be  necessary 
to  the  intelligent  practice  of  agriculture  and  mechanic  art,  and  in- 
struction in  other  branches  of  learning,  whether  enjoined  or  only 
permitted  by  the  aforesaid  law,  is  to  be  regarded  as  merely  secondary. 

Resolved,  that  in  establishing  a  curriculum,  in  selecting  the  corps 
of  teachers  and  in  the  general  policy  as  adopted,  this  Board  of  Trustees 
will  adhere  to  the  views  expressed  in  the  foregoing  resolutions. " 

At  the  September  meeting  of  the  Board  Dr.  Gregory,  having 
returned,  was  present.  He  cheerfully  accepted  the  conditions  of  the 
new  law,  and  was  informed  by  the  chairman  that  it  was  expected  and 
desired  that  he  should  be  present  at  all  the  meetings  of  the  Board. 
Professor  Shattuck  was  appointed  business  agent. 

On  December  10th,  1873,  the  new  building  was  dedicated  with 
appropriate  exercises.  Dr.  Gregory,  Governor  Beveridge,  Gen.  Eaton, 
United  States  Commissioner  of  Education,  Professor  Turner  and 
others  making  addresses.  With  our  new  building  formally  dedicated 
and  with  an  attendance  of  between  four  and  five  hundred,  we  all  took 
new  courage  and  unitedly  pressed  on  with  the  work. 

At  the  annual  meeting  in  March,  1874,  the  course  of  study  was 
somewhat  changed  to  meet  the  requirements  of  the  new  law  and  in 
accordance  with  the  resolution  of  Mr.  Reynolds,  previously  referred  to. 

At  the  annual  meeting  in  March,  1876,  the  Regent's  report  con- 
tained the  following: 

"It  is  gratifying  to  know  that  the  University  has  at  last  sur- 
mounted the  hostile  and  injurious  criticism  which  so  hotly  assailed  it 
in  its  earlier  years  and  did  so  much  to  injure  its  proper  growth. " 

It  was  the  policy  of  the  new  Board  and  of  the  Faculty  to  do  all  in 
their  power  to  win  public  favor,  and  to  attend  strictly  to  the  aims 
and  wants  of  the  University,  the  Board  going  so  far  in  that  direction 
as  to  request  the  Faculty  not  to  participate  in  any  political  contro- 
versy, by  speech  making,  correspondence,  or  otherwise,  which  request 
was  cheerfully  complied  with.  We  also  kept  the  school  of  mechanical 
engineering  well  to  the  front,  sacrificing  other  departments  at  times  to 
further  its  requirements  with  highly  satisfactory  results. 

(530) 


221 

At  the  June  meeting,  1880,  Dr.  Gregory  tendered  his  resignation, 
which  was  accepted.  Dr.  S.  H.  Peabody  succeeded  him  and  entered 
upon  his  duties  at  the  commencement  of  the  fall  term  in  September. 
He  was  not  a  stranger  to  the  Board  nor  the  University,  as  he  had 
occupied  the  chair  of  mechanical  engineering  during  the  years  of  1877 
and  1878,  and  was  at  the  time  of  his  appointment  connected  with  a 
college  in  New  England.  He  took  up  the  work  enthusiastically  and 
proved  an  able  executive  officer.  His  appointment  was  well  received 
by  the  industrial  classes  of  the  State,  he  being  one  of  their  number. 
His  administration  was  conservative.  One  of  the  first  things  he  did 
was  to  bring  the  high  schools  throughout  the  State  in  touch  with  the 
University  by  making  them  accredited  branches. 

The  Legislature  in  the  meantime  became  more  liberal  in  their 
appropriations.  The  name  of  the  University  was  changed  from  the 
Illinois  Industrial  University  to  that  of  the  University  of  Illinois. 
The  State  Laboratory  of  Natural  History  was  removed  from  Normal 
to  Urbana  and  made  a  department  of  the  University.  At  the  Decem- 
ber meeting  in  1887  the  Experiment  Station  was  organized,  and  a 
board  of  control  was  created  for  its  management.  This  board  in- 
cluded members  of  our  Faculty  and  representatives  of  the  State 
Agricultural  Society,  the  State  Horticultural  Society,  and  the  Illinois 
Dairymen's  Association,  and  members  of  our  own  Board. 

In  1890  Congress  passed  an  act  for  the  benefit  of  the  Land  Grant 
colleges  established  under  the  act  of  1862,  ultimately  giving  twenty- 
five  thousand  per  year  to  each  college  established  under  the  act.  At 
a  previous  session  Congress  had  liberally  endowed  the  experiment 
stations  connected  with  such  colleges. 

At  the  June  meeting  1891  Dr.  Peabody  resigned  and  Prof.  Burrill 
was  appointed  Acting-Regent.  He  served  as  such  until  the  appoint- 
ment of  Dr.  Draper,  in  1893. 

My  term  of  office  as  Trustee  of  the  University  expired  in  March, 
1893,  having  served  continuously  since  its  organization  in  1867  under 
the  appointment  of  the  several  governors  of  the  State  during  that  time. 

I  shall  ever  cherish  the  pleasant  associations  connected  with  that 
service,  and  more  especially  my  associations  with  the  first  members 
of  the  Faculty.  They  were  loyal  and  true  and  worked  faithfully 
under  the  most  adverse  circumstances  for  the  interest  of  the  Univer- 
sitv.  On  account  of  the  state  of  our  finances,  we  were  obliged  at  one 
time  to  temporarily  reduce  salaries  ten  per  cent.,  which  they  accepted 
without  a  murmur. 

I  will  close  by  assuring  the  newly  installed  President  and  all 
connected  with  the  teaching  force  of  the  University  that  they  have  the 
best  wishes  of  the  few  surviving  members  of  the  original  Board  for 
their  success  in  carrying  forward  the  great  work  committed  to  their 
charge. 

(531) 


222 

ADDRESS 

Judge  Joseph  O.  Cunningham 
Former  Member  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  Urhana 

Amid  all  these  festivities  over  the  inauguration  of  a  new  President 
of  the  University,  the  tendency  of  which  is  to  turn  attention  to  the 
present  and  future,  a  look  backward  is  contemplated  by  the  convo- 
cation of  this  hour,  which  should  not  be  without  its  benefits,  however 
much  the  present  and  future  may  engross  our  attention. 

The  University  of  Illinois,  and  its  kindred  institutions  as  well, 
owe  their  origin  and  distinctive  character  to  the  needs  of  society  for 
educated  hands  as  well  as  for  educated  heads,  which  was  felt  by  a  few 
half  a  century  since.  Then  engineers,  architects,  chemists  and  agri- 
culturalists were,  with  no  view  to  scholastic  preparation,  taken  from 
the  ranks  of  practical  men;  and  while  good  engineers,  architects, 
chemists  and  farmers  were  generally  the  result,  it  took  too  long  and 
cost  too  much  to  get  them.  The  schools  of  that  day  educated  men 
away  from  these  practical  and  necessarv  callings  rather  than  to  them, 
and  the  so-called  learned  professions  greedily  claimed  the  lion's  share 
of  their  output. 

Practical  men,  not  theorists  merely,  saw  the  one  sided  error  of 
educating  the  head  and  not  the  hand  also.  The  demand  of  a  few  far 
seeing  Illinoisans,  met  together  in  an  obscure  Illinois  town,  for  the 
education  of  the  hand  as  well  as  the  head,  after  a  few  years  of  agitation, 
became  the  demand  of  the  nation,  and  Congress  enacted  the  same  into 
a  law  providing  for  the  "endowment,  support  and  maintenance  of  at 
least  one  college  (in  each  state)  where  the  leading  object  shall  be, 
without  excluding  other  scientific  and  classical  studies,  and  including 
military  tactics,  to  teach  such  branches  of  learning  as  are  related  to 
agriculture  and  the  mechanic  arts."  The  object  to  be  attained  by 
this  new  departure  was  by  the  statute  declared  to  be  "to  promote  the 
liberal  and  practical  education  of  the  industrial  classes  in  the  several 
pursuits  and  professions  in  life;"  surely  then  a  new  departure  in 
educational  matters. 

In  practice  this  University  was  one  of  the  first  to  be  organized 
under  this  law,  as  it  has  been  one  of  the  most  successful;  for  in  less 
than  six  years  after  the  approval  of  the  law  by  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  and  as  soon  as  the  condition  of  peace  in  the  country 
would  permit,  it  was  launched  by  our  Legislature. 

No  beaten  track  lay  before  it  for  its  guidance  and  no  successful 
precedents  presented  themselves  to  be  followed.  No  enlightened 
public  sentiment  stood  behind  it  to  prompt  financial  aid.  Divided 
sentiment  among  its  friends  as  to  the  policy  to  be  followed  darkened 
counsels  and  added  to  the  confusion.  On  the  one  hand  were  those 
who  clamored  for  a  policy  narrowed  down  to  instruction  in  those 
pursuits  which  related  to  practical  agriculture  and  the  mechanic  arts 

(532) 


223 

and  that  too  without  any  preparatory  scholarship  other  than  such  as 
was  to  be  had  in  the  common  schools  of  the  country,  then  none  too 
good.  The  metropolitan  press  lent  the  powerful  aid  of  its  columns  to 
this  claim,  and  not  satisfied  by  such  advocacy,  it  aggressively  threw 
in  the  way  of  the  management  of  the  University  every  obstacle  at 
hand.  So,  an  opposition  which  had  grown  out  of  the  location,  in  an 
out  of  the  way  part  of  the  State,  of  the  institution,  for  a  time 
joined  hands  with  this  faction,  making  the  enemies  of  the  University, 
entrenched  as  they  were  within  the  Board  of  Trustees,  almost  too 
formidable  for  its  feeble  strength. 

A  Board  of  Trustees  of  thirty  men,  chosen,  it  was  feared,  more  with 
reference  to  future  political  movements  than  for  their  personal  fitness 
for  the  organization  and  management  of  the  new  institution  along 
untried  educational  lines,  was  an  embarassment  for  seven  years  and 
until  its  numbers  were  reduced  to  nine. 

It  is  remembered  too  that  the  free  school  system  of  Illinois  was 
then  in  its  infancy,  not  having  accomplished  its  first  ten  years  of  ser- 
vice. No  high  school  then  as  now  prepared  the  ambitious  youth  of 
the  State  for  admission  to  college  classes,  and  the  first  recitation  heard 
within  the  w^alls  of  the  University  was  a  class  in  algebra,  and  that  to 
the  then  President  of  the  institution. 

Added  to  all  these  hindrances,  the  name  given  to  the  new  Univer- 
sity by  its  charter,  from  the  first  imposed  embarassment  and  gave  its 
friends  plenty  to  do  in  explaining  the  fact  that  it  was  not  a  penal  nor 
reformatory  institution. 

Out  of  all  this  confusion  of  counsels  and  conflicts  of  factions,  under 
the  able  and  experienced  labors  of  the  first  President  or  Regent,  John 
Milton  Gregory,  to  whose  memory  be  all  honor,  and  whose  labors  were 
constant  and  untiring  for  thirteen  years,  supplemented  as  they  were 
by  the  wisdom  and  work  of  his  able  successors  and  a  hard  worked 
Faculty,  came  what  we  behold  today  a  university  admitted  by  those 
who  know  how  to  judge  of  its  merits  to  be  second  to  but  few  of  the 
great  institutions  of  the  Republic  or  of  the  world. 

The  time  alloted  is  too  brief  to  permit  a  willing  and  deserved 
tribute  to  all  who  have  by  their  devotion  to  the  University  helped  to 
make  it  what  it  is  today, but  among  the  numbers  outside  the  Faculty 
who  bv  their  counsel  and  wisdom  have  rendered  distinguished  service 
should  be  named  the  Honorable  Newton  Bateman,  for  many  years 
Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction  for  the  State  of  Illinois,  who 
with  Regent  Gregory  and  others  at  the  second  meeting  of  the  Board  of 
Trustees,  held  in  Champaign  on  May  8,  1867,  rendered  the  report 
upon  Faculty  and  Course  of  Instruction.  The  committee  it  may  well 
be  said,  "builded  better  than  it  could  have  known,"  for  a  reference 
to  that  distinguished  document  will  convince  the  reader  that,  as  to 
the   future   of  the  institution  it  contained  words  of  real  prophesy. 

(533) 


224 

Whether  intentional  or  not  on  the  part  of  the  successors  of  Dr.  Greg- 
ory and  the  Board  of  Trustees,  it  would  seem  that  this  document  has 
been  the  chart  and  guide  of  all  administrations  for  almost  forty  years 
and  during  the  marvelous  growth  of  the  University.  It  is  safe  to  say 
that  this  document,  drawn  by  Gregory,  has  been  the  safe  guiding  star 
to  which  success  may  be  traced. 

Rev.  Dr.  J.  C.  Burroughs,  a  member  of  the  first  Board,  although  at 
the  time  president  of  the  Chicago  University  and  interested  in  its 
success,  brought  to  the  discharge  of  his  duties  the  wisdom  acquired  by 
his  years  of  experience  with  educational  institutions,  and  contributed 
greatly  to  success.  •  So  of  General  Mason  Brayman,  S.  S.  Hayes, 
Honorable  Horatio  C.  Burchard  and  John  M.  Van  Osdell,  all  of  them 
ripe  with  experience,  devoted  it  to  the  work  of  the  University.  Per- 
haps of  the  greatest  value  to  the  University  were  the  labors  of  Emory 
Cobb,  Esquire,  of  Kankakee,  who,  appointed  upon  the  first  Board, 
continued  to  hold  office  until  succeeded  in  1893.  An  experienced 
financier  before  then,  his  counsels  when  followed,  carried  the  finances 
of  the  institution  over  many  a  rough  place,  and  when  disregarded,  as 
they  were. sometimes,  the  University  suffered. 

These  early  friends  of  the  University,  where  yet  in  life,  as  few  of 
them  are,  must  look  with  great  pride  and  satisfaction  to  what  we  see 
and  hear  today.  To  them  and  to  their  coworkers  be  all  praise  for 
what  has  been  accomplished. 

In  these  festivities  the  names  of  those  gentlemen,  members  of  the 
General  Assembly,  who  from  the  inception  of  the  University,  have,  as 
local  representatives,  yielded  to  it  their  influence  and  agency  in  secur- 
ing financial  aid,  should  by  no  means  be  forgotten  or  omitted  from 
prominent  mention.  Hon.  Clark  R.  Griggs,  now  of  the  city  of  New 
York,  was  a  member  of  the  lower  house  in  1867,  when  the  charter  was 
granted,  and  by  his  wisdom  and  legislative  experience,  aided  in  laying 
the  foundation  of  the  institution.  He  was  afterwards  a  member  of 
the  Board  of  Trustees,  where  he  exerted  a  strong  influence  in  its 
management.  Hon.  John  W.  Scroggs,  a  member  of  the  first  Board 
of  Trustees,  was  elected  a  member  of  the  lower  house  in  1868,  and  was 
instrumental  in  securing  for  the  University  the  first  appropriation 
given  for  the  erection  of  buildings.  Hon.  J.  C.  Sheldon  was  elected  to 
the  House  of  Representatives  at  the  election  in  1870,  and  as  a  member 
of  the  Senate  in  1872,  where  for  six  years  he  was  able  to  serve  the 
institution  by  securing  the  appropriations  which  constructed  the  main 
university  building.  Hon.  James  S.  Wright  was  elected  to  the  Senate 
in  1880,  and  for  four  years  ably  represented  the  interests  of  the  Uni- 
versity, securing  for  it  further  recognition  by  the  legislative  branch  of 
the  State  government.  Hon.  Martin  B.  Thompson  succeeded  Mr. 
Wright  in  the  Senate,  where  his  influence  well  served  the  University, 
especially  in  securing  the  change  of  name  which  relieved  it  from  the 

(534) 


225 

suspicion  of  being  one  of  the  reformatory  institutions  of  the  State. 
Hon.  Milton  W.  Mathews  was,  in  1888,  elected  the  successor  of  Mr. 
Thompson,  where  for  four  years  he  likewise  was  a  faithful  and  efficient 
friend  of  the  University,  securing  the  appropriation  which  constructed 
the  armory.  Following  Mr.  IMathews  as  a  member  of  the  Senate  came 
Hon.  Henry  M.  Dunlap,  who,  now  serving  his  fourth  term,  has,  bv  his 
long  service  and  loyalt}'  to  his  Alma  Mater,  been  able  to  accomplish 
much  for  the  University  in  the  way  of  larger  appropriations  for  current 
expenses  and  for  new  buildings. 

These  gentlemen,  all  local  representatives,  have  at  all  times  been 
well  supported  by  their  colleagues  from  the  local  district  as  well  as  by 
other  friends  of  the  institution  and  of  the  work  it  has  accomplished  in 
the  General  Assemblv. 


ADDRESS 


Samuel  W.  Shattuck,  C.E. 
Comptroller  and  Professor  in  the  University  of  Illinois 

I  thank  the  gentlemen  for  their  very  kind  words  for  me  I  trust 
the  recording  angel  has  taken  note  of  them  and  that  when  my  balance 
sheet  is  written  up  I  shall  have  full  credit  for  the  same. 

Mv  first  connection  with  the  business  operations  of  the  University 
was  in  the  summer  of  1871  when  I  w^as  appointed  superintendent  of 
construction  for  this  building  and  the  military  and  mechanical  one 
then  being  erected.  This  position  I  held  until  class  instruction  began 
in  the  fall. 

In  March,  1873,  Dr.  Gregory,  Regent  of  the  University,  was  given 
a  leave  of  absence  of  six  months  for  a  much  needed  rest.  Upon  his 
recommendation  I  was  appointed  Acting-Regent  for  the  time  of  his 
absence. 

Under  the  original  organization  of  the  University  the  Regent  was 
president  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  and  the  business  of  the  University 
was  conducted  by  him.  These  duties  I  performed  in  addition  to 
teaching  three  hours  each  day.     Those  were  strenuous  times  for  me. 

In  July  of  that  year  a  new  organization  of  the  University  went 
into  effect.  This  relieved  the  Regent  from  the  business  operations 
and  from  acting  as  president  of  the  Board  of  Trustees.  Mr.  Emory 
Cobb  was  elected  to  that  position,  which  he  held  for  many  years  with 
honor  to  himself  and  great  benefit  to  the  University. 

Professor  Edward  Snyder  was  recording  secretary  of  the  Board  at 
this  time,  which  position  he  held  till  1888  when  William  L.  Pillsbury 
was  appointed  recording  and  corresponding  secretary. 

Professor  Snyder  came  to  the  University  in  1868  and  was  for 
twenty -eight  years  a  beloved  and  respected  member  of  its  faculty. 

In  September,  1873,  when  Dr.  Gregory  again  took  up  his  duties  as 

(535) 


226 

Regent,  I  was  put  in  charge  of  the  business  of  the  University;  this 
position  I  have  held  since.  I  have  also  been  the  head  of  the  depart- 
ment of  mathematics  for  thirty-seven  years.  In  this  connection  I 
cannot  refrain  from  speaking  of  an  incident  that  happened  in  1869. 

In  that  year  when  the  ground  on  which  this  building  stands  was  part 
of  acorn  field,  I  was  surveying  the  field  for  the  purpose  of  tile  drainage, 
when  one  of  the  iron  pins  used  was  lost.  I  told  a  young  man  to  get  a 
wooden  one  by  cutting  a  sprout  from  a  clump  which  I  had  noticed, 
but  to  leave  such  as  were  not  needed  as  they  would  be  trees  some  day. 
At  least  two  were  left,  and  form  today  the  large  double  hackberry  tree 
on  the  north  side  of  the  walk  in  front  of  the  Library  Building. 

I  have  looked  at  this  tree  many  times,  and  thought  that  it  repre- 
sented my  duties  in  the  University,  those  of  a  professor  and  those  as 
business  manager.  I  have  often  spoken  of  it  as  my  tree.  Dr.  Burrill 
has  his  avenue;  I  am  satisfied  with  a  tree.  But  it  is  the  only  one  on 
our  grounds  not  planted  by  man.  It  is  not  as  symmetrical  as  many, 
but  I  trust  it  will  be  allowed  to  remain  a  long  time  yet. 

In  1893,  as  one  of  its  members  expressed  it,  a  new  element  appeared 
in  the  Board  of  Trustees.  This  element  called  for  the  resignation  of 
the  treasurer,  John  W.  Bunn,  who  had  well  served  the  University  for 
twenty-six  years. 

A  new  treasurer,  Charles  W.  Spalding,  was  elected  who  served  for 
four  years  and  was  defaulter  for  all  the  current  funds,  and  the  greater 
part  of  the  endowment  of  the  University.  The  business  office  for  four 
months  was  under  a  severe  strain  to  meet  the  current  obligations,  but 
through  the  wise  guidance  of  President  Draper  and  the  powerful  help 
of  Senator  Dunlap  the  University  was  put  upon  a  better  financial 
basis  than  it  had  ever  been  before. 

The  business  operations  and  resources  of  the  Universitv  have 
increased  in  as  great  a  degree  as  has  the  number  of  its  students. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  in  March,  1873,  Mr.  Emory 
Cobb,  chairman  of  the  committee  on  finance,  made  a  report  in  which 
the  estimated  resources  available  for  the  year  1873-74  amounted  to 
$43,825.87  and  the  estimated  expendittire  for  the  same  time  as  $42, 
560. 

The  estimated  resources  for  the  year  1905-06  amount  to  over  one 
million  dollars.  One  million  dollars  may  be  expended,  leaving  a  bal- 
ance July  1,  1906,  larger  than  the  entire  income  in  1873-74. 


(536) 


227 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  THIS  UNIVERSITY 

Nathan  C.  Ricker,  Dr.  Arch. 
Professor  in  the  University  of  Illinois 

Professor  Morrow  sometimes  jocosely  said  to  his  intimate  friends, 
"Tell  me  all  that  you  know  in  five  minutes."  Similar  would  be  any 
attempt  to  adequately  discuss  the  development  of  this  great  Univer- 
sity within  the  limits  of  the  time  assigned  me.  There  is  merely 
opportunity  for  some  brief  notes  on  its  origin,  with  a  glance  at  its 
present  and  its  future. 

The  origin  of  this  institution  was  primarily  due  to  strongly  felt 
doubts  of  the  real  worth  and  utility  of  the  educational  training  former- 
ly imparted  in  the  colleges  of  the  olden  time.  This  was  usually  re- 
stricted to  the  ancient  languages  and  literatures,  almost  ignoring  the 
pure  and  applied  sciences,  then  in  a  crude  condition  and  not  reduced 
to  a  systematic  discipline.  College  equipment  rarely  existed,  except- 
ing the  indispensable  buildings,  library,  and  a  very  limited  chemical 
and  physical  apparatus  for  class  room  demonstrations.  Graduates 
were  almost  compelled  to  enter  one  of  the  three  professions,  then 
recognized  as  learned.  The  public  schools  were  believed  to  supplv  all 
the  knowledge  required  by  the  farmer,  gardener,  mechanic,  and  even 
the  surveyor. 

Under  the  leadership  of  the  late  Professor  Turner  of  this  State, 
agitation  arose  for  the  proper  educatiqn  of  young  men  not  intending 
to  become  physicians,  lawyers,  or  clergymen,  to  better  fit  them  for 
life's  vocations  and  for  good  service  to  their  fellow  men.  This 
eventually  led  to  a  munificent  grant  of  public  lands  by  the  national 
government  and  the  establishment  of  the  Land  Grant  universities  in 
each  state.  These  were  then  designed  to  train  men,  and  later  women, 
for  the  practical  pursuits,  to  which  miuch  the  larger  part  of  mankind 
must  always  be  devoted.  It  was  intended  to  make  their  labors  in  the 
fields  and  shops  more  efficient  and  productive,  both  as  workmen  and 
as  leaders  of  the  industrial  masses.  For  this  idea  was  later  substi- 
tuted the  production  of  teachers  of  applied  science,  chemists,  archi- 
tects, and  engineers  of  all  kinds,  leaving  the  training  of  artizans  to 
special  schools  and  to  apprenticeships  in  shops  and  manufactories. 

President  Gregory  was  a  graduate  of  a  small  classical  college,  with 
later  experience  as  clergyman,  state  superintendent  of  schools,  and 
president  of  a  very  small  college.  He  seems  to  have  had  no  previous 
opportunity  to  acquire  any  deep  interest  in  any  one  of  the  sciences  or 
in  their  application.  But  the  outline  scheme  of  organization  of  the 
future  university  was  drawn  up  by  him,  and  it  may  be  found  in  the 
first  volume  of  the  Trustees'  reports.  He  had  no  precedent  in  any 
similar  existing  institution,   little   acquaintance  with  the   details  of 

(537) 


228 

education  in  the  sciences,  or  practice  in  their  appHcation,  in  architec- 
ture or  in  engineering.  Nor  had  he  any  prescience  of  the  marvelous 
material  growth  of  this  State,  or  of  its  future  interests  and  resources, 
to  be  most  intimately  connected  with  this  institution.  Yet  he  pro- 
duced a  wonderful  work  in  the  plan  of  the  University,  an  outburst  of 
genius  guided  by  common  sense. 

The  main  lines  then  laid  down  by  him  have  scarcely  been  changed 
in  later  years,  excepting  in  case  of  a  profession  based  upon  scientific 
discoveries  then  unknown,  as  in  the  case  of  electrical  engineering. 

One  would  naturally  suppose  that  a  new  university  of  such  a 
practical  character  would  at  once  be  thronged  by  students  preparing 
to  become  scientific  farmers,  chemists,  and  practicing  engineers.  But 
it  was  strongly  opposed  by  conservatives  and  by  industrial  leaders, 
who  believed  that  university  graduates  were  a  kind  of  "horned  cattle," 
dangerous  until  their  collegiate  training  had  been  forgotten.  Engi- 
neers continued  to  assert  that  the  only  sure  foundation  for  the  training 
of  future  engineers  was  to  wield  the  axe  and  carry  the  surveyor's 
chain.  Farmers  were  scornful,  while  land  was  cheap  and  careless 
farming  was  profitable,  asserting  that  scientific  agriculture  could  only 
be  learned  in  the  fields  by  personal  toil.  They  long  opposed  the  insti- 
tution, claiming  that  the  instructors  were  mere  theorists.  But  when 
the  value  of  land  had  so  risen  that  a  better  system  of  culture  became 
imperative,  they  found  increased  profits  in  following  the  advice  of  the 
formerly  despised  scientists.  For  years  the  farmers  and  gardeners  of 
this  State  have  been  most  loyal  and  appreciative  supporters  of  this 
institution.  Indeed,  the  present  danger  seems  to  be  that  they  may 
eventually  expect  impossibilities  to  be  made  possible  by  the  University. 

The  institution  was  opened  thirty-seven  years  since,  with  a  presi- 
dent, a  few  professors,  and  seventy-five  students.  A  single  large 
building  on  the  north  end  of  Illinois  Field  contained  the  entire  edu- 
cational plant,  and  it  at  the  same  time  served  as  a  dormitory  for  most 
of  the  students.  There  were  then  no  shops  or  laboratories,  no  gym- 
nasium or  armory,  no  fraternities  or  athletic  sports,  nothing  that  now 
makes  university  life  attractive  or  endurable  for  the  average  student. 
The  equipment  consisted  mainly  of  a  small  library  and  a  very  limited 
outfit  of  chemical  and  physical  apparatus.  The  student  was  required 
to  contribute  two  hours  of  daily  unpaid  toil  for  the  improvement  of 
the  grounds  in  order  that  he  might  learn  something  of  agriculture  and 
gardening. 

The  entrance  examinations  were  very  easy,  for  fortv-two  high 
school  credits  would  at  that  time  have  been  thought  an  impossible 
requirement,  only  to  be  realized  in  a  dififerent  century.  Moreover, 
four  years  of  military  drill  were  demanded,  even  from  men  who  had 
served  as  soldiers  during  the  .Civil  War,  then  just  closed. 

But  the  students  worked  diligently,  perhaps  because  there  was 

(538) 


229 

nothing  else  to  do  on  a  prairie  a  mile  from  either  cit}'.  No  distinctions 
then  existed  between  them,  for  all  were  alike  freshmen,  and  class 
organizations  were  only  formed  much  later  with  difficulty  and  little 
enthusiasm.     Class  hazing  and  the  color  rush  are  recent  innovations. 

From  this  primitive  period  not  a  single  building  now  remains, 
only  two  of  its  original  possessions  being  retained  by  the  University, 
its  endowment  lands,  and  Dr.  Burrill,  its  honored  Vice-President. 
Most  of  the  noble  trees  which  grace  the  campus  were  planted  by  stu- 
dents during  its  first  years,  but  they  left  no  other  memorial,  save  the 
fame  won  by  their  later  work. 

My  own  personal  experiences  as  a  student  in  the  institution  com- 
menced with  1870,  when  I  found  one  hundred  and  forty  students  in 
attendance,  with  some  additional  instructors.  Professor  Shattuck 
still  taught  mechanics,  materials,  and  surveying,  in  addition  to  his 
chief  work  in  mathematics.  Professor  Snyder  taught  all  German, 
French,  bookkeeping,  and  military  science;  was  also  commandant  of 
the  regiment,  secretary  and  bookkeeper  of  the  University. 

Professor  Robinson  commenced  his  labors  here  at  the  same  time 
as  professor  of  mechanical  engineering  and  physics.  He  was  the 
first  regular  instructor  in  the  College  of  Engineering,  and  also  its  first 
dean.  He  was  a  tireless  worker,  day  and  night,  and  apparently  had 
deeply  studied  every  subject  pertaining  to  any  branch  of  engineering, 
was  an  expert  mathematician,  and  he  earned  well  deserved  fame  by 
opening  the  first  shop  in  this  country  connected  with  an  educational 
institution  for  the  practical  instruction  of  mechanical  engineers. 
During  his  leisure  moments  he  also  taught  civil  engineering,  materials, 
and  made  numerous  inventions. 

Few  textbooks  then  existed  in  engineering,  except  those  of  ancient 
date,  instruction  by  lecturers  was  a  slow  process,  practicing  engineers 
were  too  busy  to  write,  blue-print  and  mimeographic  copying  processes 
w^ere  still  unknown. 

Some  of  the  older  students  still  cherish  the  memories  of  the  Chicago 
campaign  in  1871,  of  three  companies  of  students,  which  then  formed 
the  sixth  regiment  of  Illinois  state  troops.  When  ordered  to  load 
w'ith  ball  cartridges  and  stationed  as  sentries,  they  certainly  met  with 
real  service. 

Professor  Webb  came  later  to  open  the  department  of  civil  engi- 
neering, devoting  his  entire  time  to  its  specialties  and  establishing  a 
reputation  as  a  mathematician,  with  some  eccentricities.  Civil 
engineers  of  that  time  still  remember  him  as  the  author  of  the  "Bag- 
dad" lectures  on  geodesy.  He  had  the  first  blue-print  copies  of 
lecture  notes  made,  an  idea  which  was  largely  developed  later,  and 
W'hich  soon  greatly  enriched  the  courses  of  instruction  in  the  College 
of  Engineering,  extending  its  reputation  among  engineers. 

The  department  of  architecture  came  next,  practically  established 

(539) 


230 

in  1873,  with  a  half  dozen  students,  few  books  and  no  equipment, 
among  very  unpromising  surroundings  for  its  purposes.  But  it  first 
imported  the  Russian  system  of  shop  practice  instruction  in  1875, 
which  is  now  universal,  and  much  later  established  the  earliest  pro- 
fessional course  in  architectural  engineering  in  the  United  States. 

As  a  few  specimens  of  the  product  of  the  College  of  Engineering 
during  the  early  period,  I  may  raention  Col.  J.  A.  Ockerson,  Professor 
I.  O.  Baker,  President-Trustee  S.  A.  Bullard,  and  Architect  C.  H. 
Blackall. 

The  department  of  municipal  and  sanitary  engineering  was  opened 
much  later  by  Professor  Talbot,  in  addition  to  his  chief  work  in  me- 
chanics and  in  the  development  of  the  testing  and  hydraulic  kibora- 
tories. 

Electrical  engineering  was  established  by  Professor  S.  W.  Stratton, 
now  director  of  the  National  Bureau  of  Standards.  It  at  first  oc- 
cupied a  portion  of  the  main  hall  beneath  the  university  chapel. 

From  these  rudimentary  beginnings  has  grown  the  present  College 
of  Engineering,  with  its  sixty-five  special  instructors,  its  thousand 
students,  magnificent  buildings  and  equipment  costing  at  least  three- 
fourths  of  a  million  dollars,  and  its  seven  four -year  professional 
courses,  offered  without  charge  for  instruction.  Its  graduates  are 
assured  of  good  positions  with  increasing  salaries,  the  supply  of 
competent  men  never  equalling  the  demand  for  them,  so  that  it  has 
become  very  difficult  to  retain  the  best  graduates  as  instructors. 

Under  President  Peabody  occurred  a  period  of  slow,  but  solid 
growth,  with  a  steady  elevation  in  the  quality  of  instruction,  a  time 
of  foundation  building. 

This  University  was  at  first  a  scientific  academy,  then  a  small  col- 
lege, differing  from  the  old  time  college  only  in  the  substitution  of 
scientific  for  classical  studies.  It  grew  very  slowly  for  twenty  years, 
in  consequence  of  cheap  land,  conservative  opposition,  diminishing 
income  caused  by  the  lessening  rate  of  interest  on  investments,  to- 
gether with  small  aid  from  the  State. 

The  change  from  a  small  college  to  a  real  university  actually 
occurred  but  fifteen  years  since,  under  the  wise  and  energetic  admin- 
istration of  Dr.  Burrill,  as  Acting-President,  although  this  fact  is 
obscured  by  its  marvelous  extension  and  growth  later,  resulting  from 
the  great  executive  skill,  experience  and  foresight  of  President  Draper. 
He  consolidated  the  great  edifice  on  the  eternal  foundations  required 
for  a  great  and  permanent  university.  During  his  administration, 
the  number  of  students  doubled  biennially  by  increase  and  by  affilia- 
tion, and  it  is  reasonable  to  say  that  its  public  importance  and  value 
grew  in  like  proportion.  It  has  become  the  undisputed  leader  in  this 
State  in  most  branches  of  education,  without  interfering  with  the  good 
work  of  other  state  and  private  institutions.     Far  removed  from  their 

(540) 


231 

fomier  disbelief  in  its  utility,  Illinois  farmers  now  expect  it  to  solve 
the  economic  problems  of  modem  agriculture  by  improving  the  useful 
plants  and  animals,  by  better  methods  of  culture,  by  preserving  the 
fertility  of  the  soil,  and  especially  by  instruction  in  making  every  acre 
do  its  utmost  in  contributing  to  the  comfort  and  welfare  of  mankind. 

The  casual  visitor  to  the  University  sees  its  magnificent  and  well 
kept  grounds,  its  numerous  buildings,  and  the  groups  of  busy  students 
hastening  from  class  to  laboratory.  Perhaps  he  enters  a  few  buildings, 
sees  a  class  room,  a  library  or  a  shop,  but  he  gains  no  knowledge  of  the 
University  as  a  whole,  and  of  its  numerous  activities.  It  is  probable 
that  the  residents  of  the  two  cities  know  less  of  the  University  than  of 
the  clock  factory,  or  of  the  new  fair  ground.  Even  its  students  have 
little  acquaintance  with  colleges  other  than  their  own,  and  its  instruc- 
tors scarcely  remember  each  other's  faces.  Certainly  the  public  can 
have  but  the  slightest  knowledge  of  its  work  and  of  the  opportunities 
offered  to  students.  To  make  it  fully  known  to  the  people  of  the  State 
is  a  great  problem,  not  solved  by  the  insertion  of  advertisements  in 
journals.  To  calmly  await  the  fame  earned  by  its  graduates  is  too 
slow  a  process  for  this  century. 

Four  thousand  students  in  the  University  of  a  state  containing  five 
millions  of  people  is  but  one  to  twelve  hundred  and  fifty  persons. 
This  is  certainly  not  a  maximum  ratio,  but  one  that  may  be  increased 
especially  while  the  value  of  land  continues  to  rise  and  opportunities 
for  untrained  and  uneducated  men  occur  less  frequently  in  future. 
Success  for  young  men  without  capital  will  require  a  more  complete 
and  lengthened  educational  training. 

The  University  of  Berlin  was  founded  about  a  century  since,  and 
it  has  become  the  largest  and  leading  university  in  the  world.  It  does 
not  comprise  a  faculty  of  engineering,  as  this  is  provided  in  a  separate 
institution  of  full  university  rank,  likewise  the  largest  and  most 
famous  in  its  special  field.  Location  in  the  chief  city  of  Germany  has 
certainly  contributed  much  to  the  importance  of  both  these  institu- 
tions. But  the  available  resources  of  the  Prussian  state  and  people 
will  not  always  excel  those  at  hand  in  rich  Illinois. 

If  the  population  of  the  State  continues  its  rapid  rate  of  increase 
in  future,  it  is  reasonable  to  believe  that  it  will  be  doubled  at  some 
future  date,  and  that  ten  millions  of  people  will  be  comfortably  sup- 
ported, when  intensive  farming  is  practiced  thoroughly,  and  its 
natural  resources  and  manufactures  are  fully  developed.  Crowded 
Chicago  will  then  be  abandoned  for  the  smaller  cities  and  the  country, 
for  the  pursuit  of  vocations  perhaps  yet  unknown. 

The  number  of  students  in  this  University  should  then  be  doubled 
or  it  might  increase  to  one  person  in  a  thousand.  With  ten  thousand 
students  in  all  its  departments,  this  University  might  well  aspire  to  be 
the  best,  the  strongest,  and  the  most  useful  in  the  world,  as  well  as  the 

(541) 


232 

largest.  Its  supreme  advantage  over  the  college  or  universitv  of  the 
olden  type  is,  that  its  endowment  consists  not  of  monev,  stocks,  and 
like  investments,  but  chiefly  in  the  good  will  and  public  spirit  of  the 
people  of  Illinois,  willing  and  anxious  to  provide  the  most  useful  and 
most  thorough  training  for  3'Oung  men  and  women,  without  restriction 
by  sex,  creed,  or  race. 


THREE  ITEMS  IN  UNIVERSITY  HISTORY 

Thomas  J.  Burrill,  Ph.D.,  LL.D. 

Vice-President  of  the  University  of  Illinois 

The  growth  of  the  University  of  Illinois  has  been,  with  slight  re- 
gressions, continuously  forward  from  the  beginning.  The  momentum 
has  varied  greatly  at  different  times  but  it  has  seldom  decreased  to 
zero  and  the  resting  periods,  such  as  they  were,  have  been  more  appar- 
ent than  real.  In  the  development  from  a  small  beginning  it  is 
inevitable  that  there  should  have  been  certain  crises  in  the  history, 
certain  prominent  happenings,  which  affected  for  weal  or  woe  in  each 
case  the  institution  and  its  vital  interests.  I  am  now  to  speak  of  three 
of  these  and  what  came  of  them.  They  are  selected  with  the  clear 
apprehension  that  others  might  equally  as  well  have  been  chosen  for 
the  purpose  now  in  hand,  but  the  builders  who  are  mentioned  should 
not  be  forgotton  whoever  else  are  left  out  in  the  recital. 

I.     The  Foundation  Plans 

Owing  especially  to  the  initiative  of  Professor  Jonathan  B.  Turner 
and  his  coadjutors  the  people  of  the  State  had  been  aroused  to  the 
need  of  higher  education  adapted  to  the  special  requirements  of  people 
engaged  in  industrial  pursuits,  so  that  when  the  general  government 
made  its  famous  donation  of  land  scrip  in  1862  to  the  several  states, 
individual  opinions  in  Illinois  were  very  pronounced  as  to  what  use 
should  be  made  of  the  fund.  But  these  opinions  were  verv  diverse.  In 
fact  no  two  were  even  substantially  alike,  if  details  were  at  all  considered. 
While  Professor  Turner  and  his  followers  argued  for  the  founding  of 
one  generously  endowed  and  strongly  manned  institution  in  which 
real  scholarship  should  be  promoted,  certain  others  contended  for  the 
distribution  of  the  fund  among  the  then  existing  colleges  of  the  State, 
or  among  certain  of  them,  for  the  establishment  therein  of  departments 
to  be  devoted  to  practical  affairs.  Still  others,  and  these  were  very 
assertive,  demanded  the  establishment  of  a  separate  and  distinctively 
technical  institution  solely  for  the  agricultural  interests. 

When  the  matter  came  up  in  the  General  Assembly  various 
attempts  were  made  to  settle  by  law  some  of  these  conflicting  propo- 
sitions, but  the  legislators  themselves  held  decidedly  too  divergent 
views  to  make  agreement  possible  except  that  there  should  be  created 

(542) 


233 

one  new  institution  to  be  called  the  Illinois  Industrial  University  and 
to  this  the  whole  congressional  fund  should  be  given.  Other  than 
this  the  only  legal  provision  by  which  the  first  Board  of  Trustees  were 
directed  in  determining  what  this  institution  should  be  or  do  is  con- 
tained in  these  words: 

"The  Trustees  shall  have  power  to  provide  the  requisite  buildings, 
apparatus  and  conveniences ;  to  fix  rates  for  tuition ;  to  appoint  such 
professors  and  instructors  and  establish  and  provide  the  management 
for  such  model  farms,  model  art  and  other  departments  and  professor- 
ships as  may  be  required  to  teach  in  the  most  thorough  manner,  such 
branches  of  learning  as  are  related  to  agriculture  and  the  mechanic 
arts,  and  military  tactics,  without  excluding  other  scientific  and  classi- 
cal studies. " 

This  was  the  charter  presented  to  the  first  Board  of  Trustees,  by 
which  they  were  to  determine  what  character  this  Illinois  Industrial 
Universitv  should  have.  The  last  part  of  the  name  did  not  mean 
anything;  for  were  there  not  already  in  the  State  several  so-called 
universities  whose  names  were  the  biggest  part  of  them?  One  could 
found  a  university  as  easily  as  he  could  an  academy  or  a  college,  and 
among  the  masses  there  was  little  distinction  between  them.  Note, 
too,  the  Trustees  were  simply  given  poiver  to  do  certain  things,  they 
were  apparently  not  required  to  do  those  things  and  were  not  forbidden 
to  do  anything  unless  as  some  claimed  they  could  not  exclude  "other 
scientific  and  classical  studies."  This  Board  of  Trustees  were  not 
educators  professionally.  Among  the  thirty-two  members  only  two 
had  ever  had  any  personal  experience  in  building  up  or  managing  an 
institution  of  higher  learning,  and  only  three  more  were  entitled  to 
write  after  their  names  an  academic  degree.  They  were  mostly  men 
of  afifairs — farmers,  business  men,  two  or  three  lawyers,  one  doctor, 
one  pastor  of  a  church,  and  so  on.  Like  other  people  these  men  held 
widelv  diverse  opinions  as  to  what  the  new  institution  could  or  should 
be,  what  purposes  it  should  fill,  what  methods  should  be  adopted  in 
filling  anv  purpose.  There  were  great  anticipations,  for  the  endowment 
was  usually  considered  large  enough  for  the  attainment  of  wonderful 
things.  Were  there  not  four  hundred  and  eighty  thousand  acres  of 
land  scrip,  besides  the  donation  by  Champaign  county  and  allied 
interests  themselves  aggregating,  so  it  was  claimed,  about  four  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars?  The  sums  looked  phenomenally  large  in  those 
days,  but  their  supposed  munificence  only  stimulated  activity  in 
planning  what  was  to  be  done  with  the  money,  and  thus  further  in- 
creased the  diversity  of  opinions.  At  the  first  meeting  of  the  Trustees, 
which  was  held  at  the  newly  located  seat  of  the  University  in  May, 
1867,  it  was  found  necessary  to  pass  an  order  that  no  member  should 
speak  more  than  once  upon  any  question  without  leave,  and  that  no 
one  should  speak  at  one  time  more  than  five  minutes.     This  indicates 

(543) 


234 

something  of  the  readiness  for  debate  among  the  thirty  members  of 
the  Board  present. 

But  at  this  same  meeting  held  in  the  Congregational  Church  in 
Champaign,  a  committee  on  courses  of  study  and  faculty  read  a 
report  which  more  than  any  other  one  thing  settled  at  the  time  and  for 
all  time  the  main  features  of  the  newly  founded  University.  This  report 
brought  together  many  of  the  nebulous  ideas  prevailing  at  the  time, 
condensed  them  into  well-shaped  forms,  threw  out  the  unassimilable, 
arranged  them  in  order,  added  new  elements  and  put  life  and  action 
into  the  whole.  The  document  as  examined  today  is  a  masterly  one, 
but  read  in  the  light  of  the  times  when  it  was  written,  considered  with 
reference  to  the  conditions  existing  forty  years  ago  in  the  educational 
world,  it  shows  not  only  keenness  of  appreciation  of  the  needs  to  be 
met  at  the  time,  but  a  prophetic  vision  of  the  demands  and  possibilities 
of  the  future.  If  the  Trustees  at  their  first  meeting  in  March,  in 
Springfield,  found  little  or  nothing  for  their  guidance  in  the  law,  they 
now  had  a  charter  by  which  to  shape  their  action.  Not  that  all 
accepted  its  provisions.  There  was  still  much  variance  of  opinion  and 
voluble  discussion,  but  from  that  day.  May  8,  1867,  until  now,  the 
ideals  presented  in  that  paper  have  been  closely  followed,  wittingly  or 
not,  in  the  developments  which  now  make  up  the  history  of  the  insti- 
tution. The  paper  was  written  and  read  by  Dr.  John  M.  Gregory,  the 
first  President,  or  Regent  as  he  was  then  called.  With  him  were 
associated  on  the  committee  Newton  Bateman,  then  Superintendent 
of  PubHc  Instruction,  Mason  Brayman  of  Springfield,  S.  S.  Hayes  of 
Chicago,  and  Willard  C.  Flagg  of  Moro,  near  Alton,  one  of  the  first 
college  graduates  of  that  time,  who  saw  enough  in  agriculture  to  meet 
the  mental  activities  of  an  educated  man.  Dr.  Bateman  was  a  gradu- 
ate of  Illinois  college  and  a  pupil  and  friend  of  Professor  Turner.  Mr. 
Flagg  was  a  graduate  of  Yale. 

II.  The  Change  of  Name 
The  extravagant  ideas  current  half  a  century  ago  as  to  what  could 
be  accomplished  in  the  way  of  founding  and  building  a  university  upon 
an  endowment  of  a  few  hundred  thousand  dollars,  as  well  as  upon  the 
subjects  of  what  might  be  expected  from  the  new  education  portrayed 
in  visionary  addresses  by  certain  theoretical  enthusiasts,  inevitably 
led  to  reaction.  The  administrative  ofiEicers  of  the  State  and  the 
members  of  the  Legislature  could  not  understand  why  more  funds 
should  be  needed  to  support  an  institution  already  so  well  provided  as 
was  this  one  founded  upon  the  national  Land  Grant.  Slowly  and 
grudgingly  it  was  admitted  that  building  and  some  equipment  must 
be  provided  from  the  State  treasury  and  for  these  purposes  certain 
appropriations  were  made  by  every  General  Assembly  after  the  found- 
ing of  the  University,  but  for  the  payment  of  professors'  salaries, 
surely  the  endowment  must  suffice.     Let  it  also  be  remembered  that 

(544) 


235 

though  a  definite  policy  had  been  adopted  by  a  majority  of  the  Trustees 
which  was  never  abandoned,  there  were  hundreds  of  thoughtful  people 
in  the  State  who  had  been  warmly  interested  in  the  original  project 
and  who  still  retained  their  special  ideas  upon  the  subject,  who  were 
in  one  wav  or  another  greatly  dissatisfied  with  what  had  been  done. 
It  could  not  have  been  otherwise  whatever  had  been  done.  Some  of 
these  looked  upon  the  whole  cause  as  a  lost  one,  gave  up  interest,  did 
nothing;  others  became  open  enemies.  The  newspapers  well  reflected 
this  condition  of  things  and  either  ignored  the  institution  altogether 
or  were  ever  ready  with  criticisms.  The  great  dailies  sneered  because 
there  was  nothing  taught  but  agriculture ;  the  agricultural  press  found 
nothing  commendable  in  the  agricultural  investigations  and  instruc- 
tion. Few  people,  and  among  them  the  editors,  really  knew  anything 
about  what  was  done  or  taught  and  none  seemed  to  care  to  learn. 
The  name  which  the  founders  had  bestowed  upon  the  institution, 
though  expressive  and  honorable  in  their  own  minds,  proved  to  be 
incorrectlv  interpreted,  and  this  again  led  to  wide  misunderstanding 
of  the  nature  of  the  institution.  The  word  "industrial"  had  become 
associated  with  charity  and  penal  institutions.  There  was  indeed  but 
one  other  in  the  whole  country  called  indnstriaL  which  did  not  partake 
of  these  latter  characteristics.  This  was  and  is  the  Arkansas  Indus- 
trial University,  named  directly  from  our  own  and  on  whose  campus 
there  exists  today  a  dupHcate  from  the  same  plans  of  our  University 
Hall.  Well-to-do  parents  did  not  want  to  send  their  children  to  an 
industrial  school;  those  trying  to  provide  for  outcasts  or  criminals 
found  to  their  surprise  that  the  Industrial  University  was  not  organ- 
ized for  their  reception.  In  the  early  eighties,  a  county  school  super- 
intendent of  Macon  County,  almost  adjoining  ours,  wrote,  asking  if 
three  unruly  children  of  a  widowed  mother,  the  oldest  thirteen  years 
of  age,  could  be  provided  for  in  the  Illinois  Industrial  University.  A 
graduate  of  the  class  of  1876,  seeking  employment,  was  asked  where  he 
was  educated,  and  upon  replying,  at  the  Illinois  Industrial  University, 
the  inquiry  followed  at  once,  "What  were  you  sent  up  for?" 

With  this  state  of  things,  is  there  much  wonder  that  appropriations 
from  the  State  came  by  the  hardest  efforts,  if  they  were  made  at  all? 
Is  there  much  wonder  that  growth  was  very  slow,  if  any  took  place .'' 
But  efforts  were  made  against  discouraging  odds,  in  the  face  of  in- 
difference and  sometimes  of  ridicule,  with  concealed  and  open  enemies 
at  home  and  abroad,  during  a  depressed  period  in  the  financial  and 
commercial  affairs  of  the  country.  With  little  forward  movement 
anywhere  in  any  line  of  activity,  the  University,  nevertheless,  did 
gain  from  1880  onward.  For  the  first  time  in  its  history  State  appro- 
priation toward  the  expenses  of  general  instruction  was  secured  in 
1881.  The  amount  was  indeed  small  but  the  acknowledgment  thus 
made  was  great.     The  money  only  amounted  to  five  thousand  seven 

(545) 


236 

hundred  dollars  per  annum  for  two  years ;  that  which  went  along  with 
it  was  the  practical  acceptance  by  the  State  of  the  fact  that  it  pos- 
sessed an  educational  institution  which  it  must  support.  In  1883  the 
next  General  Assembly  made  the  sum  fourteen  thousand  dollars  per 
annum  for  two  years — an  encouraging  increase  and  an  example  that 
has  usually  been  followed  ever  since.  In  1885  came  the  change  of 
name.  Other  things  seemed  now  to  permit  a  movement  which  had 
been  held  to  be  inadvisable  before .  The  term  ' '  The  State  University ' ' 
had  begun  to  be  somewhat  commonlv  applied  to  the  institution.  The 
name  Industrial  University  as  usually  understood  was  recognized  as  a 
misnomer,  though  many  of  the  friends  of  the  institution  felt  reluctant 
to  any  change  which  should  imply  in  any  way  or  to  any  degree  a 
change  in  character  or  purpose.  All  enemies  were  at  once  aroused. 
The  old  name  suited  these  to  perfection.  When  it  was  found  that 
some  change  was  probable,  attempts  were  made  under  various  pre- 
texts to  prevent  the  adoption  of  the  name  which  was  proposed  and 
afterwards  applied.  The  graduates  of  the  earlier  classes  took  the 
most  active  part  in  this  name  propaganda,  the  Trustees  and  Faculty 
deeming  it  unwise  to  be  known  as  urging  the  change.  The  "boys" 
had  the  influential  help  of  a  few  interested  members  of  both  the  Senate 
and  House  and  in  spite  of  the  opposition  encountered  the  movement 
succeeded. 

But  the  victory,  for  such  it  was,  thus  won  in  1885,  was  due  to 
other  activities  and  agencies  than  those  apparent  at  the  time.  One 
man  especially  had  been  carefully  making  ready  for  this  battle  for  five 
years.  Not  that  this  change  of  name  was  the  main  object  in  view,  but 
this  was  the  best  outward  evidence  of  an  accomplished  purpose.  The 
appropriations  for  current  expenses  beginning  in  1881,  and  the  change 
of  name  meant  in  good  part  the  same  thing,  or  it  may  be  said  that  the 
latter  expressed  what  the  other  really  signified,  viz,  the  University  of 
the  State  of  Illinois,  so  recognized  and  supported.  The  man  who  more 
than  any  other  is  to  be  credited  with  this  achievement  was  Selim  N. 
Peabody,  LL.D.,  the  second  President.  Existing  documentary  evi- 
dence does  not  give  anything  like  proper  credit  to  the  work  and  services 
of  this  devoted,  conscientious  and  really  able  man.  This  little  testi- 
monial is  therefore  more  gladly  given  in  this  place. 

III.  A  Governor's  Help 
During  the  year  of  1892  the  Faculty  as  such  fully  discussed  the 
needs  of  the  University  upon  the  legislative  side,  and  for  the  first  time 
in  the  history  of  the  institution  formulated  for  themselves  their  con- 
ception of  these  requirements  and  caused  the  results  to  be  passed  on 
to  the  Trustees.  Again  abundant  consideration  was  given  the  subject 
and  while  the  total  amount  of  money  talked  of  was  many  times  beyond 
anything  ever  before  asked  for,  the  opinion  became  unanimous  that 
all  the  items  were  essential  ones  and  the  estimates  were  reasonable. 

(546) 


237 

The  onlv  hesitation  felt  by  some  members  of  the  Board  of  Trustees 
concerned  the  matter  of  policy-  Everything  in  the  list  was  needful 
to  the  proper  progress  of  the  University.  Would  so  large  an  asking 
jeopardize  everything?  The  bill  for  1891  carried  a  total  of  $197, 
300.00,  and  this  included  an  unusual  item,  seventy  thousand  dollars 
for  the  Natural  History  Building.  The  proposed  askings  for  1893 
made  a  total  of  $345,600  and  three  new  main  structures  were 
called  for,  namely,  a  library  building,  one  for  the  College  of  Engineer- 
ing and  one  for  a  public  museum.  Claims  for  the  latter  were  empha- 
sized from  the  consideration  that  at  the  close  of  the  Columbian  Expo- 
sition, to  which  the  University  was  to  be  a  large  contributor,  it  would 
be  possible  to  secure  a  large  amount  of  valuable  material  if  there  could 
be  offered  suitable  accommodations  for  it. 

While  some  other  members  of  the  Board  were  strongly  in  favor  of 
including  evervthing  mentioned  in  the  list  prepared  by  the  Faculty, 
no  one  so  unreservedly  and  enthusiastically  advocated  this  as  did 
Francis  M.  McKay,  an  alumnus  of  the  University  and  for  many  years 
an  active  and  influential  trustee.  This  acknowledgment  is  gladly 
made  though  it  must  not  be  taken  as  in  any  way  disparaging  others. 
It  is  made  more  especially  because  of  what  herein  follows. 

The  State  elections  in  November,  1892,  resulted  in  a  Democratic 
victorv,  placing  the  next  year  John  P.  Altgeld  in  the  governor's  chair 
and  giving  political  control  to  the  Democrats  in  both  houses  of  the 
Legislature.  Here,  then,  was  a  new  proposition  to  face  in  regard  to 
University  appropriations.  From  the  beginning  in  1867  the  Republi- 
cans had  been  in  continuous  power.  Would  the  new  masters  be 
equallv  interested  and  favorable?     Who  could  tell? 

The  bill  was  introduced  in  the  Senate,  everything  included.  Its 
first  reference  early  in  the  session  was  to  the  committee  on  appropri- 
ations and  there  it  was  well  supported.  But  the  men  had  previously 
agreed  on  economv.  They  proposed  to  make  a  record  for  this,  now 
the  chance  had  come  to  them.  The  askings  were  cut  unmercifully. 
The  three  buildings  were  thrown  out.  The  expense  fund  was  reduced 
to  the  amount  passed  by  the  previous  General  Assembly;  everything 
was  blue.  The  University  representatives  withdrew,  perhaps  wiser, 
but  no  better  men  than  before.  A  council  was  held  to  determine  the 
next  step  to  take.  Some  one  proposed  a  call  upon  the  Governor. 
Colonel  Richard  P.  Morgan  was  made  spokesman.  An  audience  was 
soon  obtained  and  the  Governor  listened  patiently  to  the  story  care- 
fully told  and  to  the  plea  skillfully  made.  After  many  questions 
and  replies,  going  deep  into  the  merits  of  the  cause,  the  Governor  said, 
"Well,  gentlemen,  wait  until  morning  and  come  in  again.  I  will  see 
the  chairman  of  the  Senate  committee.  Perhaps  something  can  be 
done."  Something  was  done.  The  chairman  did  not  report  out  the 
action  of  his  committee  but  instead  called  the  latter  together  again 

(547) 


238 

the  next  afternoon.  The  matter  was  reconsidered  and  a  report  was 
soon  agreed  upon  recommending  the  full  sums  asked  for  except  for  the 
museum  and  library  building.  The  engineers'  building,  at  one  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  dollars  was  put  in.  The  entire  complexion  of 
things  had  been  changed  over  'night.  From  that  hour  onward  the 
the  passage  of  the  amended  bill  was  easy.  A  new  and  influential 
friend  had  been  found  in  the  Governor  of  the  State,  and  so  he  subse- 
quently and  abundantly  proved  himself  to  be.  Whatever  else  and 
elsewhere  may  be  said  of  Governor  Altgeld,  his  name  should  be  a 
luminous  one  on  the  pages  of  the  University  history  and  his  memory 
should  be  cherished  for  what  he  was  and  did  in  connection  with  this 
University  of  Illinois. 


(548) 


/• 


^ 


1 


'm 


'"^-^ 


i 


^^"■^i. 


'V. 


j^^-^t 


^-^ 


*  •  '.;?. 


"^■l 


.1 


